The Bride of the Lindorm King
by WriterKos
Summary: "As I looked into her eyes, I saw the layers of her protective walls slowly crumbling at my feet, as she sobbed her terror in my arms." - McGee. Written for Myths and Legends challenge in NFA.
1. Let's talk about love, shall we?

_**Title: The Bride of the Lindorm King  
>Characters: Everyone.<br>Genre: Character Study. Drama. Casefile  
>Rating: FR15.<br>Warning: Violence and exposure of dead bodies…. Well, it is a casefile afterall.  
>Plot: "As I looked into her eyes, I saw the layers of her protective walls slowly crumbling at my feet, as she sobbed her terror in my arms." - McGee.<strong>_

Written for Myths and Legends challenge in NFA.

Inspired on the legend of **_the Bride of the Lindorm King_**

_**Prologue: Let's talk about love, shall we?**_

Let's talk about love, shall we?

Love is an emotion that has inspired poems, songs and legends throughout the ages. Authors incessantly praised this or that aspect of it, trying to sell us the idea that love is right there, so close, within reach of our fingertips.

But most of the time, it's not like that.

Love: it's much more than just an emotion, it is also a conscious decision of two people to share their lives together not _because _they are different but _despite _their differences.

In modern times, love was slowly substituted by lust, the momentary satisfaction of two eager bodies searching for the release of endorphins and other chemicals in their brains.

We became greedy.

And as we became greedy, we became lonelier than ever before.

But what would it take for us find the real thing? Would we be willing to do what it takes to meet the person despite who he or she really is? No matter what it takes? Would we be willing to compromise who we are and show our hidden and protected egos, without masks, scales or our several layers of skin hiding our inner self?

Would we shed the layers of shame, rejection, pain, regret and guilt and stand before that person unprotected, showing all of our vulnerabilities to him/her?

Would you?

And the question that plagues me the most... Would I?


	2. Dead marine

_**Chapter 01: Dead marine**_

Pain and despair always precede moments of pure happiness. I once read a Norse legend that showed that perfectly. It started like this:

_Once upon a time in the far away land in the North of Europe, there was a King who wedded a beautiful Queen. On their wedding night, there was nothing written on their bed when they went to sleep, but when they woke up there was a terrible prophecy written in it._

_There would be no children born from their marriage._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"Gear up, dead marine." Gibbs shouted and we all scrambled to obey his call, so in mere seconds we all had our backpacks and were piling inside the elevator.

After good thirty minutes driving north, we arrived at a small park in Silver Spring, not very far from where I live. I took Jethro here several times to run free in the grass and bark at all animals he might spot. I bet the damn dog has peed on all the trees in here marking his territory.

The park is exactly as I remember, except maybe by the police tape connecting a cluster of trees marking the place where our dead body is.

"Ziva, witnesses statements. McGee, pictures. Tony, bag and tag."

Our quiet 'On it, Boss,' muttered by all three of us was completely ignored by Gibbs, who knelt beside the remains of the uniformed marine, checking the mess the killer left behind.

"That's a really awful way to die," said Tony, looking at the corpse for a moment before going back to canvasing the area as he searched for clues.

"Yeah. It is." Gibbs agreed, studying what he has in front of himself.

The man at some time had been on his knees, but now his dead body was laying on its front, the blood and guts pooled in front of him. Whoever had killed him, had gutted him while he was kneeling on the floor. The intestines and internal organs had fallen from the gaping wound while the poor man was still alive, as his bloodied hands were a sure sign that he had desperately tried to literally hold himself together. His misery could have lasted hours if not for the precise (why not say, merciful) cut on his neck, which must have ended his life quite instantaneously.

I kept taking pictures of various angles of the scene and at the same time I tried to ignore the bile burning on my throat. I have to admit that it has been a while since I felt like puking at a crime scene.

Ducky and Palmer approached with their usual delay and I noticed that even Palmer, who always has been kind of creepy to me with his usual okay attitude towards death, paused and cringed at the scene.

"That's something that we don't see everyday." Palmer said as soon as they got close to the body.

"Indeed, Mr. Palmer. It's not common to find a disembowlment killing nowadays. However, it reminds me of the most infamous killer of all times. Who was English by the way. Those sassenachs were very a bloodthirsty lot."

"Who are you talking about, Ducky?"

"I'm talking about the first ever serial killer in modern times, my dear Ziva." Ducky put his gloves on and stuck the liver termomether to check the temp. "Jack the Ripper. The great mystery that stays unsolved, and which movies, books and researchers have yet to decipher." Ducky said, philosophicaly.

"I don't want to know about the English murderer, I want to know about this murderer, Ducky," Gibbs said, always business and unwilling to hear another longwinded tale from Ducky's repertoire.

"These cuts on his abdomen were carefuly made, in order to inflict maximum damage and pain without killing our victim." Ducky examined the bloodied mass, before looking at Gibbs. "If left unattended, our marine would have suffered a long and agonizing death."

"How long, Ducky?"

"Six. Maybe eight hours."

All younger agents cringed at that. Gibbs turned to me, as I had already lifted the print and was looking at it on my palmtop.

"Name?"

"Ah..." I frowned at the screen, covering with my hand to hide it from direct sunlight. "Lieutenant Tristan Carpenter, twenty nine. He was an aide at a local recruitment office here in Virginia, Boss."

"It seems he was recruited for a different mission, uhm?" Tony said, bagging a small cigarret but from the floor.

"Indeed, dear Anthony. But our killer for some reason was in a hurry, so he hastened the meeting of our Lieutenant with his maker." Ducky added, checking the wounds on the neck. "You see these cuts?"

Gibbs leaned closer and examined what Ducky's gloved fingers were pointing. "Yeah."

"These cuts were made with the same cutting weapon from the first ones, but these are much sloppier and unprecise than these."

"Why do you say that?"

"They would have been killing strokes if he hadn't hesitated. It's strange that someone who has disinbowed another living being in the aim of bringing a miserable death hesitates when he has to act on mercy, speeding it up."

"Time of death?"

"I would say four to five hours ago. In the beginning of the morning."

"The park would have been extremely busy," said Tony, pointing to several school buses where children were now being loaded into them several yards away. "It's spring baseball championship. People would be everywhere. Why take such risk and kill someone in a place so visible?"

"Why would he risk so much indeed. Someone must have seen him." Ziva tapped her notebook with her pen.

"Yeah." Gibbs squinted in the sun at the children screaming and playing several yards away, beyond the yellow crime line. He noticed the movement of curious people and the cops securing the scene and he frowned when a black sedan stopped just behind their NCIS van. Two people left the car, a tall blond man in a monkey suit that screamed Fed and a short brunette with reddish curls, in a gray power suit that also identified her as a government employee.

I followed Gibbs' eyes and noticed that the two people showed their badges to the cops, who after a glance, granted them access to our crime scene.

Oh, that can't be good.

The two Feds approached Gibbs, the taller man with a plastic smile on his face, those that he must have practiced in front of a mirror, as no one is that cheerful like that in a crime scene like this. My attention moved to the brunette, who didn't make any effort of smiling or being nice, her attention totally focused on the body at our feet. Her gray suit, despite being cut with sobriety, failed miserably to hide the soft curve of her waist and hips and the nice curves of her breasts, carefully framed by a sky blue silk blouse which made a nice contrast to her pale skin.

Somehow she must have sensed me checking her out as she lifted her eyes briefly and our eyes met. There I was before the most beautify tone of green surrounded by brown just around its pupils. I gulped momentarily speechless as she looked at me without expression on her face, before lowering her gaze again at the corpse.

"Agent Gibbs, Agent Fornell had warned me that I might find you here at the scene."

"Really, unfortunately Fornell had not warned I was having a visit today. I would have used some nice cologne. Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Special Supervisory Agent Theodore Thoureau and this is my Junior Agent, Laura Mackenzie."

Gibbs barely glanced at the younger woman, who ignored the two men growling at each other and just stared at the corpse.

"Nice to meet you. Now why the hell are you here?"

SSA Thoureau smiled politely, his cold eyes glaring at Gibbs, "Not mincing your words, uhm? Okay. We're here to take over your crime scene."

"No way. This is my dead marine here. This case is mine."

"Well, this is my serial killer. I take the precedence then."

Oh, oh… I glanced at Tony and Ziva, who cringed at the steam already coming out of Gibbs' ears as he glared at the smooth looking FBI agent.

This really can't end well.


	3. FBI thorn on the side

**_Chapter 2: FBI thorn on the side._**

_Women are never happy with the lot the Fates bestow upon them, are they? Well, back to the story._

_Of course the Queen was brokenhearted as she could not give a heir to her beloved King. In her sadness, she wandered to the woods where she met someone who gave her a small sparkle of hope._

_In some versions of the story they say it's an old hag, in another, a soothsayer. Either way, the person gives very specific instructions towards the young queen, that should be followed without any deviation._

_If she followed the instructions, in one year time the Queen would conceive and would hold in her arms a child._

_The Queen eagerly heard the advice and ran towards the castle, in a hurry to obey the strange orders._

_In the soothsayer version, the Queen should eat two red onions which would magically appear under her bath tub after she returned to her Castle and bathed. She should eat them without delay, but she should peel them carefully before eating them._

_In the old hag version, the Queen should eat at sunrise one of two roses which would magically appear under a upside down platter the Queen would have left in a corner of the garden in the night before. If she ate the red rose, she would have a boy. If she at the white rose, a girl._

_Do you think she followed the instructions?_

_Nope._

_In the first version, in her hurry to fulfill the enchantment, the Queen ate the entire first onion, without peeling it. The second onion was carefully peeled before being eaten._

_In the second version, the Queen chose the white rose and ate it, as a girl would never go to war and die senselessly. But the Queen found the rose so delicious, that she ate the red rose too._

_And that's when her problems really began._

NCIS NCIS NCIS

Both Gibbs and SSA Thoureau walked a few feet away so they could butt heads privately, away from curious ears of their junior agents. That left us and ... what's her name? Laura. Laura Mackenzie.

"So, Agent Mackenzie, how long have you been an FBI agent?" Tony stood up and walked towards the brunette agent, who glanced briefly at him before slapping latex gloves on and walking towards Jimmy's side, observing the corpse being loaded onto the gurney.

"I've been a field agent one year, agent...?" she looked at him, silently asking his name.

"I'm Agent Anthony DiNozzo, that's Agent Ziva David and that's Probie extraordinaire, Timothy McGee." Tony looked her up and down, with that little sarcastic smile that always irritate me. "So you're a probie too."

"I beg your pardon. Probie?" She looked confused at him, uncertain of his meaning.

"Ah... that's how..." I started explaining, just to gulp when the turns her green eyes focused on me. "Ah... that's how we at NCIS call Junior agents. They are Probationary agents so... for shorter, Probie."

"Ah..." She glanced down, not really keeping her gaze on me. "I see." She turned to Ducky, "Doctor, I'll list the M.O. characteristics of our killer and could you please tell me if they match?"

"Certainly my dear," Ducky said, standing up.

"Your victim died on his knees, with a very shallow but precise cut on his tummy which dislodged his internal organs. He used a very sharp blade to make the cut, probably a hunting knife. There were binding marks on the wrists and and finger marks on his right shoulder of where the killer held him down as he made the cuts."

"Correct my dear. But in this case, he also cut our marine's throat, hastening his death."

"Really? But that doesn't fit the profile." She approached him and saw what he pointed for her, "He always cuts them down and waits until they bleed out. The cause of death on the last two cases were hypovolemic shock."

"Not in this case. Here this poor man had his airways perforated, so he died very quickly."

"Are you sure this is the same killer?" Ziva asked, noticing her confused looks at the corpse.

"It has to be. The dumping site fits and the timeframe fits. He's been killing one man by disembowelment every forty eight hours." She glanced again at Ducky, "have you checked his backpockets?"

"Yes, there wasn't anything. Just his wallet." I said, just to receive another glance.

"May I see it?"

Tony, who was the one responsible for bagging and tagging, went to the evidence box and brought a plastic bag with a man's wallet in it.

"There's nothing out of ordinary in it. Just money, credit cards, Ids," Tony said while Laura kept checking the wallet with gloved hands until she found a flyer of a local amateur theater in it, carefully folded. "So what, the guy likes drama. Who doesn't?"

"That's not what I'm interested. This is his signature."

"A theater flyer?" Ziva's voice is incredulous.

"No, this." Laura turned the flyer around, showing the back of the flyer. In it, carefuly painted with some kind of ink, was an stylized circle.

"That's not art class winner material... what's that?" Tony asked, silently asking for the paper so she gave it to him.

"Why a handdrawn circle would be important?" Ziva asked, trying to look at the paper in Tony's hand.

"That's not a simple circle. It's an ouroborus. If you pay attention to it, you will notice the wings, tongue, mouth and eyes of a dragon." Laura said and pointed the features she mentioned. Indeed, now that we all knew what to look for, we could see that it was a circle made of a single stroke, but there were wings and the small tongue and eyes...

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony asked, turning the paper upside down trying to figure out the right side to look at the picture.

"The ouroborus is an ancient symbol, usually depicted with a snake or a dragon eating its own tail. It means the ciclycal movements of time, the eternal return, the constant recreation of one self."

"The phoenix rising from its ashes." I muttered, just to receive a nod from Laura. Oops, since when I'm calling her by her first name in my head?

"It's been used frequently in religious and mythological symbolism, as well as in alchemical illustrations."

"So our killer is an alchemist." Tony asked, looking at Laura with a small smile on his face.

"That's not what I said." Laura said point blank.

"But you've just said that's used in alchemical illustrations." Ziva said pointing to the drawing.

"Yes. You asked what is the meaning of the ouroborus, I gave you that. We have no idea yet what's the meaning of the ouroborus for our killer. He has left a paper with that drawing in the pockets of each of his victims. This one is a flyer of a drama theater, the previous one was a flyer of a dry cleaning service. His first victim, it was on the back of a flyer of a christmas play in a elementary school north in the city."

"Any relation between the flyers?" Ziva asked, glancing back at Gibbs who was still shouting at SSA Thoureau.

"None we could find yet." Laura said, following Ziva's gaze and cringing at SSA Thoureau shouting at Gibbs' face.

"If they are fighting over jurisdiction, are we even allowed to share information on the case?" I had to ask and it was the first tiny smile I saw in Laura's face that day.

She looked at me mischievously, before wiping all emotion from her face. "I don't play politics. I leave those games for Thoureau as he likes them. I'm here to solve the case."

"But won't that create problems for you?" I asked to her back, as she walked away to the small lane beyond the bushes which had protected the corpse of our marine from the curious eyes of those jogging in the park.

It had been a dog who had given the alarm on the body.

What a way of starting a morning run with your puppy, uhm? I bet that lady won't ever bring her poodle here to this park anymore.

"I'm always in trouble with Thoureau. Don't worry, I can handle him."

She looked up and down the lane, before turning to me. "It doesn't make sense. He always took his time with the victims. He wanted them to suffer."

"Maybe he was interrupted." I suggested, just to receive a blank look from her.

"He always was careful with the dumping sites so he could take his time with his victims. What was different this time?"

She leaned down, looking at the ground. "Maybe..."

She pointed to some track marks on the floor, so we both knelt on the floor to investigate.

Meanwhile, as we got accquainted with one FBI agent, Gibbs was having the displeasure of discussing jurisdiction with the other Fed.

"This is our case, we were investigating it first." SSA Thoureau said, his annoying smile dimming a little before Gibbs, who was unwilling to let his marine's death go to a bunch of incompetents – in his opinion, of course, not mine.

"It's my marine dead over there." Gibbs pointed to the body that Ducky and Palmer were loading on the morgue van.

"I think you would agree that in this case it's just a coincidence that your victim is a marine. What takes precedence is the investigation of the serial killer."

"Please, do you really think I'm letting you anywhere near my marine?"

"What about a joint investigation? We could share information?"

"Over my dead body," Gibbs barked at the Fed, turning his back and stopping when Thoureau showed his slimy side.

"Then I'll have to take that to your Director, as when I spoke to him half an hour ago he had guaranteed I would be received with open arms and full cooperation."

Gibbs turned around very slowly, glaring at the smirk on Thoureau's face.

"You've spoken to Vance before talking to me?"

Thoureau shrugged, unaffected, "When I was informed of the crime scene and that NCIS was already on site, I asked around. Then I went straight to the top." Thoureau took some steps closer, stopping right before Gibbs. "Why ask permission if we can ask forgiveness later on. Isn't that one of your rules, Gibbs?"

Gibbs just glared at him for a long time.


	4. He's got a child

**_I'm baaaack with the monster story... Gory ahead alert.  
><em>**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Chapter 3: He's got a child.<em>**

_Where was I in the story? Ah... Yes, the queen's disobedience, right? Anyway, the Queen's disobedience would cost dearly to the kingdom. The Queen did conceive and at the right time and moon she started to feel labor pains._

_The whole kingdom waited anxiously for the announcement of the birth of the throne's heir. However, instead of cheers and joy, only screams of horror came out of the royal chamber._

_In one version, the one with the onions, two children were born. The firstborn was a monster, while the second was a normal child._

_In the other version, the one with the roses, only one child was born._

_Either way, the direct heir of the throne was a hideous creature, a snakelike dragon with a scaly skin and cunning eyes._

_It was a Lindorm._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Our intense search for clues resulted in a chilling discovery, which brought all of us to a halt.

"Guys," Tony called out, making us stop our investigation of the footprint molds on the floor and look up to him. Laura and I were kneeling on the floor checking for any evidence the perp might have left behind and when we looked up, Tony had a bright pink hat in his gloved hand.

"Oh my…" Ziva couldn't finish her sentence as Laura immediately went beside Tony and silently requested to be handed the hat. She looked inside of it, even sniffed it, bringing a cringe to Tony's face.

"Are you going to lick it too?" Tony asked with distaste.

"No." She turned to me "It smells of Johnson & Johnson shampoo mixed with sweat." She frowned at the two senior agents, still discussing jurisdiction. "I can't believe they are still going strong."

"Well, Boss is very protective of his cases…" I added, just to hear Ziva murmuring under her breath.

"… he also hates the FBI nosing around our business."

"I see." She looked at Ziva. "Then they are in for a nice wake up call."

Laura started to march towards them with the pink hat, making us look at each other in astonishment before we ran after her, eager to hear and see what that pixie woman would do. She reached the two agents who were still growling at each other and waited for them to acknowledge her, but they were too immersed in their conversation to notice her.

"Sir?" She called.

"Can't you see I'm busy, right now?"Agent Thoreau glared at his Probie, before looking at Gibbs and going back to his head butting conversation, neither man letting the other finish their sentences, the atmosphere getting colder than the Arctic.

"For God's sake, could you two please stop bickering about jurisdiction and focus?" Both senior agents turned to glare at Laura, who showed the hat once she saw she had their attention. "He has a child."

"What?" Both asked simultaneously.

"She's right, Boss. I'm sorry, I didn't see it when I …" I started, feeling Gibbs glare briefly land on me before Laura interrupted me.

Again.

"He has never deviated from his M.O. before. Here he was sloppy and he was in a hurry." She said.

"Why would that happen?" Thoreau asked, silently asking for the hat.

"He was interrupted. Probably by the child." Ziva conjectured, receiving a nod of agreement from Laura.

"The knife wounds weren't carefully done as in the other two murders. These were fast and furious cuts while the others he took his time." Laura said.

Tony looked around, noticing the movement of children several yards back, with several teachers herding kids into school buses at the end of the morning.

"There was a game a few yards back... It's the little girls' baseball league opening season, I think."

"We have to interview every teacher and parent on those buses because one of them is missing a child." Thoreau said, handing the hat to Gibbs, who fingered it sadly, probably doing the same I was doing: wondering what possible horror that kid might be going through.

"And our kid is with a psychopathic killer." Gibbs said as he looked back towards the playground.


	5. Interviews and clashes

**_Chapter 4: Interviews and clashes_**

_In both stories, the Lindorm grew in size and power, terrorizing the land as he had been rejected by his parents. He, the heir of the throne, was a hideous creature that all gentle maidens ran away screaming in fear._

_So he hardened his heart and argued with his father, demanding to be treated as heir, otherwise he would destroy the king and his castle._

_Everyone lived in fear, tiptoeing around the beast, certain that they could be swallowed whole with just a bite of its powerful mouth._

_He was rejected by them all so he hated them all too._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Back into NCIS headquarters, I noticed how uncomfortable Agent Mackenzie was, standing in the middle of the bullpen while Gibbs herded her superior officer to Vance's office for a little tete-a-tete. Meanwhile, she simply stood there, waiting for her orders about what she should do and we did the background checks on the lists of the kids of those buses from the park.

"How did you get to work serial killers after only one year in the FBI, Agent Mackenzie?" Tony asked as she leaned over Gibbs' table, studying the pictures behind the man's desk when she answered distractedly, "Because I'm good at it."

"Wow, I'm impressed," said Ziva, eager to draw the young woman to a conversation.

But we all saw how she tensed up and erected all her mental barriers as she looked at Ziva, "I might be a Federal Agent for a short while but I've consulted for the FBI for several years."

"Really, in what, how to dress impeccably in the field?" DiNozzo received a glare for that inappropriate comment, both from me and Ziva. Laura apparently decided to let that comment go without a visible reaction from her face.

"I've been a court appointed forensic psychiatrist for several federal cases for the last five years, Agent DiNozzo. Finally I was told to pursue an Agent status in order to keep consulting for the FBI."

"What exactly does a court appointed psychiatrist do?" I asked curious about this serious and sad young lady in front of me.

She shrugged lightly, "I was called in when they had to decide if a killer's plea of insanity should be held on court's decision and my clinical opinion usually helped the jury to decide if the convicted criminal should be sent for a normal prison or be institutionalized in a facility for the criminally insane."

"Wow. Tough choice."

"Yeah." She gulped and in swallowing it must have gone down the wrong pipe, because she started coughing, trying to get her breath back.

I was raised to be a gentleman, so I immediately stood up and offered her a sealed bottle of water I had on my desk. "Here"

She kept coughing and looked at the bottle as if I had offered her a rattle snake, "What's that?"

I was confused by her reaction, "What do you mean? Water. Haven't you ever had water before?"

She must have been feeling better, because she stopped coughing and stood straighter, completely ignoring my outstretched hand and the bottle, "I didn't ask you for water."

"I was just trying to be nice."

"You don't have to be nice to me."

"What? Why not?"

She shrugged as if her words after it were the commonest things in the world, "Nobody else is. Besides, I'm not staying for long. After this case, I'll be long gone. So don't waste your precious time on me."


	6. Back in the bullpen

**_Chapter 5: Back in the bullpen_**

After completely blowing me off, she left for the ladies room leaving me completely stupefied for a few moments with a bottle of water in my hand.

"Now that's a chick with a huge chip on her shoulder." Tony whistled lightly, just increasing my anger.

"Did you see that? What an unpleasant woman!"

Ziva smiled at me, aware of how disturbed I was at that woman's attitude.

"Unfortunately your boy scout manners don't work on everyone, McGee."

"Now let's go back to the case before Gibbs come back blowing up at us for not finding anything of value." Tony said standing up and going to the plasma.

"Have we figured out who the missing kid is?"

"Jessica Stern, age seven. She was playing at the little league's and she was supposed to be picked up by her godfather, none other than..." Tony clicked something and the picture of the dead lieutenant appeared, "Tristan Carpenter, her father's best friend."

"That's why he was so sloppy," Laura said, coming out of nowhere and standing behind me and Tony, making me jump as her voice sounded so close to me. She looked at me with serious eyes while I adjusted my professional mask and then turned to plasma. "The lieutenant approaches the kids, his goddaughter sees him and keeps playing. Meanwhile, he is attacked by the unsub and dragged to a place considered ideal for the killing to happen."

"But the game comes to an end, the little girl comes looking for her godfather and finds the killer instead." I mused out loud, receiving a nod from Laura.

"He couldn't take any chance of the girl screaming or revealing his activities. So he grabs her and silences her, finishes the kill and takes her with him."

"Why didn't he kill her?" Ziva asked.

"He's a need driven offender with a very specific victimology. A little girl doesn't fit into it but he couldn't afford to let her expose him so soon after the kill."


	7. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

**_Chapter 6: Eeny, meeny, miny, moe  
><em>**

"I'm not working with the FBI on this." Gibbs stood his ground, unwilling to give even an inch to the pompous ass of FBI agent standing beside him in front of Vance's desk.

"This is an FBI investigation, we're pursuing a serial killer who has already attacked before, it's imperative that we're the ones conducting the investigation."

"But it's my marine you're going to be poking around."

"Gentleman, I believe cooperation is the key word for the dilemma we have on our hands." Vance turned to Thoreau, who smiled smugly and stood straighter as Vance studied him up and down and found only an impeccable Ermenegildo Zegna, "While I understand the need of keeping the Bureau in the loop, I do not see the need of completely disregarding the insight of an elite team like Gibbs and his agents."

"They are not aware of the peculiarities of the case."

"Then I'm sure you're going to be more than happy to share them so both the FBI and NCIS can, together, solve this case."

Thoreau's fake smile slipped a little, "Sir, as the head of this investigation, I believe..."

"As the head of this agency, I believe that cooperation is the key for a good standing between our agencies." Vance stood up, glaring at Thoreau's fading grin with all the force of his position as the head of one of the most important agencies in the country. "This matter is closed."

Gibbs looked at Vance with a smirk, just to be have it shot down by Vance's next words, "You will be briefed by Agent Thoreau and will allow him to interact with the investigation."

"He's not alone, he's got a junior agent with him."

"Then you will show the appropriate respect for both of them for the duration of this case." Vance answered without hesitation.

Gibbs stayed in silence for a while, considering his options. Thoreau thought the conversation was finished so he started going to door. Gibbs smiled and motioned with a finger, calling Vance to follow him.

Once Vance approached him, wary of what Gibbs would say, he was surprised with his question. "May I pick?"

"Pick what?"

"The FBI agent I get to work with."

"I wasn't aware that there was a choice."

"Ah... I'll show you. Come with me."

His curiosity aroused by Gibbs' curious manners, Vance followed Gibbs down the corridor, walking a few steps behind Thoreau, all the way to the mezzanine overlooking the bullpen. Once there, he thought it curious that Gibbs leaned over the railing and studied his agents working down in the bullpen.

"What am I supposed to see, Agent Gibbs?"

"Just watch." Gibbs pointed to the bullpen, and Vance finally noticed a short pale brunette standing beside McGee, his form almost shadowing her so Vance did not see her at first. She was talking excitedly with Ziva and Tony, who were studying several piles of files which were opened over Gibbs and Ziva's desks.

Thoreau, however, wasn't a happy camper when he saw the little brunette talking with the agents and marched down the steps, almost running until he reached her side.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"What's the meaning of this?" He screamed at her, making her jump and totally change her demeanor, from enthusiastic to demure in seconds. I have to admit that it was in that moment that I started to hate Thoreau and understand a little bit Laura's attitude towards... well... everyone.

"We were just going through the evidence and..." Laura muttered, just to shut up when he glared at her.

"Hey, chill out man, we're just picking her brains here." Tony said. It's okay that he didn't like the new girl, but there was no reason to scream at the Probie.

"You've shown them _our_ files?" Thoreau almost had steam come out of his ears, such was his fury. Laura took a step back, bumping against my chest. I instinctively put a hand on her shoulder, and I could actually feel her lightly shaking under my fingers.

"There's a child's life at stake. I thought we were working together."

"We're _not_ working together. _I_ decide what's to be shared or not."

"But we've just built a profile."

"You've given them _our_ profile? _I'm_ the senior agent here, _I'm_ the one who decides what's going to be shared or not!"

Me, Tony and Ziva just stared at Thoreau as he turned his junior agent into mince meat right before our eyes, and I could still feel her shaking beneath my fingers. Ziva took a glance at Laura's face and her eyes were filled with compassion, as I could only guess how she must be taking that humiliation. I happened to glance up and saw Gibbs and Vance watching everything from the mezzanine.


	8. Administrative leash

**_Chapter 7: Administrative leash_**

Gibbs turned to Vance, his cold eyes daring him to contradict what Vance had seen with his own eyes. Meanwhile Vance was ready to cut some throats, and he was eager to start with that little arrogant one.

"I've seen enough." Vance started taking two steps at a time until he stood behind Thoreau, who in no moment stopped berating his agent for sharing information with Gibbs' team.

"Agent Thoreau." Vance said in a very unpleasant voice, eager to get that man and rip him apart just for the fun of it.

"Just one minute, I'm teaching a junior agent her proper place in the chain of command." He muttered with a murderous glare towards Laura who paled and looked to the floor, her shoulders sagging and she was on the brink of tears for the humiliation she was going through.

"I believe she already knows her place." Vance said, waiting until Thoreau turned to look at him, "And you need to learn yours."

"I don't understand, Director Vance."

"Agent Gibbs reminded me that, as team leader, he might not have a choice on whether or not he gets to work with the FBI. However, he has the choice of picking who will work with his team."

"I don't understand."

"Well, I pick _her_." Gibbs said with a smile, making Laura lift her gaze from the floor and look surprised at the smiling senior agent.

I could feel her surprise as she hitched a breath, staring fascinated at Gibbs while Vance advanced towards Thoreau. "You see, in NCIS we give the proper value to agents who like sharing information."

"You can't do that. She's a junior agent. I'm the Senior Agent here."

"Ah… I can. If I get to pick someone to work with me, I'd rather pick one who acts and thinks like an agent, not someone who is in it just for politics."

"I'm her Senior Agent. I've been assigned to her so I could teach her proper procedure."

"No, you're not her Senior Agent. _You're her administrative leash!"_

If she could, Laura would have dug a hole in the floor and hidden herself inside. As it was, she made herself as small as possible between the two senior agents growling at each other and took another step back, but she ended up bumping against my chest again. She jumped lightly but I was not about to let her get away, so I firmed my hand on her shoulder and squeezed, feeling her sigh and relax against me, her head lowered and her hair falling as a curtain hiding her face.

Gibbs turned to Vance, who was watching everything with speculative eyes.

"You want me to be cooperative with the FBI? _Fine_, but _I_ pick who works with my team. If I have to get a new Fed, I want the one who actually thinks like an agent, not the bureaucratic dead weight."

"Agreed, Agent Gibbs." Vance nodded, accepting Gibbs' idea.

"You can't do it. She has no field experience." Thoreau still tried to negotiate, looking at the Gibbs and Vance and still trying to inject himself in the investigation.

"_My_ team. _My_ rules. _My_ terms. The FBI wants in. _Fine_. Then _she_ stays. She's FBI. That must enough."

Thoreau sighed and pointed to Laura, "She's under disciplinary supervision."

That brings Gibbs to a stop and makes Laura try to fold over herself even further, but there was nowhere to go. I was behind her, Tony and Ziva were each at one side and in front of her were Gibbs and Thoreau.

Not an easy choice to make.

Gibbs studies her for a long moment, as she nervously twisted the case folder in her hand while Thoreau simply waited for Gibbs to give up on her. But Gibbs wouldn't be the boss if he weren't a man to follow his gut.

"Why were you put on probation?" He asked her, but Laura kept her eyes down and murmured something that none of us could hear.

"Could you repeat that? I couldn't hear you the first time."

"I assaulted a superior officer." She muttered, finally lifting her eyes so she could look at Gibbs.

"Really?" Gibbs even sounded surprised at that, as if it was hard to imagine her attacking anyone with that size of hers.

"Yeah."

"How badly?"

She cringed, but answered anyway. "I broke his nose."

"Why?"

She didn't answer, preferring to study instead the pattern of the carpet of the bullpen. Gibbs decided to change the approach.

"Did you have a good reason for it?"

That got a response, because she looked up at him and said in a firm voice, showing all her anger and disgust at the situation. "Yeah."

Gibbs shrugged, turning to Vance with a smile. "Good enough for me."

He finally turned to Thoreau and he had the great pleasure of pointing to the elevators that lead to the door. "She's in, you're out. Now go."

"You can't do that!"

"I've just done it. _Watch me."_

Thoreau huffed and glared at Laura, who finally dared to look at her former supervisor, recoiling a little at the anger and hatred in his eyes directed towards her. He finally smiled a political smile and nodded, "Fine, you keep her. But after this case, she's back to my side and we'll see if she will have any future in the Bureau."

With that threat in the air, Thoreau turned his back and went to the elevator, sending a glare at us before boarding it and finally leaving the bullpen. Once he was gone, it was as if a heavy cloud of hatred was lifted, making the air lighter and the day brighter.

"If that's the kind of attitude I had to deal with everyday, I would have certainly cut his throat while he slept in the first chance I had," Ziva said, turning Laura who was staring at the closed elevator doors in shock, as if she couldn't believe he was gone.

I went around her and made her look at me, one of my hands gently touching her chin and I noticed that she still seemed to be in a little bit of shock.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I..." She blinked repeatedly, her gaze still at the elevator before looking at me with those big green eyes filled with wonder and surprise. " I... I..."

"Hey, Kid." Gibbs called out, making Laura look at him with huge eyes surprised at him coming into her defense.

I felt her tensing up as Gibbs approached her, her fight or flight instinct in full force as she waited for his next words, probably expecting for the same kind of verbal abuse she was used to receiving from Thoreau.

_"Impress me."_

I felt her deflate under my hand, looking confused at Gibbs as she couldn't hold back her astonishment, "ah... what?"

Gibbs took another step, towering over her figure and making her look up to keep looking into his eyes. "I said... _Impress me."_

"Impress you. Right." She ran to his desk and grabbed a few folders and rushed to give them to him. Gibbs opened one of them to find several pictures of people killed in the same manner of his dead marine, "Our unsub is a need driven killer, he stalks a particular type of victim and he lures his victims to what he considers the ideal killing ground."

"What would that be?"

"He killed in places that, despite having a huge number of people in its vicinity, were devoid of cameras and circulation, which implies that he had studied the place enough to know where possible surveillance cameras would be. He picks the place and then lures his victims there."

She picked the pictures of the three victims, including our Lieutenant, and showed them to Gibbs. "He has a very specific victimology: He kills white, late twenties early thirties athletic men, who are in the height of their vigor or strength, yet they seem incapable of fighting him off. Initially we had considered the hypothesis of a blitz attack until we found a very strong anesthetic in the victims' blood stream, which had been injected in the neck vein of the victim and would have rendered a pugilist into a puppet doll in a matter of seconds after being administered. Your coroner might be able to certify that the same has happened to your marine. And finally we have this."

She gave him the signature, the ouroborus card, "The ouroborus represents the endless task, without beginning and end. He identifies himself with it and he wants us to know that, that his task is not done and the process he is going through is going on and on, and the only one way to stop him is to catch him."

She finally shut up, looking eagerly waiting for Gibbs' verdict. "And that's it."

Gibbs stayed in silence as Laura tried to get her breath after her long exposition. She closed the folder in her hand and just waited for him to say something, anything.

Finally Gibbs nodded and took a step towards her, staring down at her, "If you ever try to break my nose, make sure you have a damn good reason for it, or I'll flatten you where you stand." Having said that, he smirked at her shocked face and went to his desk, leaving her staring at him in confusion.

I smiled at her as she looked at me, trying to figure out if Gibbs was for real or not. I nodded and went to my desk, eager to go back to my searches.

"McGee?" Gibbs asked with his firmly on his monitor.

"We've identified the missing little girl, her name is Jessica Stern." I said, putting a picture on the plasma.

"Family has been contacted?" Gibbs turned to look at the smiling blond girl in the plasma.

"Her parents are on their way."

"Ziva?"

"We've requested the teachers and parents to check with their kids if anyone has seen something out of ordinary. A little girl mentioned to her father seeing Jessica being taken. She's also on her way with her parents."

"Good, you handle that interview." Gibbs noticed Laura still standing lost in front of his desk, "Kid, take a chair and sit with McGee, help him with the searches, okay?"

"Aye, sir."

"Boss." Gibbs muttered, making Laura stop as she ran to the neighboring cubicle for a chair. "Never call me sir, either Gibbs or Boss."

"All right, Gibbs." She smiled lightly, grabbed a chair and pushed it to my side. She then gathered the opened folders on Gibbs' desk and moved them to their box, dragging them to my side of the bullpen and started checking them one by one, working with me the whole afternoon as we went searching for any relation between our victims.


	9. Out of a child's mouth

**_Chapter 8: Out of a child's mouth_**

_Jane Austen once wrote "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." The same truth could be applied to the Lindorm, who grew and reached maturity and decided that it was time to get married._

_After all, he was a good catch. He was the heir of the kingdom, a prince! Someone would be interested in getting married with such charming lad, right?_

_Nope._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

After a tearful interview with the little girl's parents, who cried both by the death of their friend as also for the safety of their child, Gibbs ordered me to join him in the conference room as we questioned the little girl who had witnessed Jessica's kidnapping.

Lyndsay was a gorgeous little girl with bright blue eyes and long black hair, pale skin that made her an exact image of what Disney's Snow White would have been at her age. She was sitting on her mother's lap hugging a Barbie, and she was looking warily at me and Gibbs as we sat down to question her.

After the initial minutes in which Gibbs as always showed me how good he was with children, he delicately probed the little girl about what she knew of the events that led to Jessica's kidnapping.

"Is Jessica your friend?"

"She plays in the big girl's league. I'm still trying to learn how to hit the ball, but she's very good."

"I'm sure when you grow up you will be as good as her."

"Maybe."

"Lyndsay, where were you when Jessica went missing?"

"I had to go... but I knew I wouldn't make it to the little girl's bathroom so I ran to one of the bushes and hid and peed in there."

"So you were right at the bushes when she was taken."

The girl nodded.

"Did anyone see you in there?"

"No."

"Did you see the man who took Jessica?"

The little girl shook her head.

"But you've just said that you knew who took Jessica." Gibbs insisted, eager to get a description of our suspect.

The girl burrowed deeper in her mother's arms, playing with her doll's head nervously as she looked at Gibbs, biting her red lips as she looked at him, "It wasn't a man."

Now I was the one confused, "Are you saying that a monster took Jessica?"

Lyndsay shook, her head, looking at me with wise eyes, "It was Voldemort."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"She is lying." Ziva said after rechecking the little girl's statements.

"What if she is not?" I had to pipe in, just to receive a snort from Tony, who sat down relaxed on his chair and stared at me.

"Ah, please, next you will want us to search for the big bad wolf." Tony chuckled incredulous.

"What would make a little kid say that the man she saw was a monster?" Laura wondered out loud, looking at the pictures of the victims again, trying to find something she had missed the first time.

"Degenerative disease?" I offered and both Laura and Gibbs look at me with the same pensive expression. Apparently, I was onto something.

"Any of them that could disfigure a face?" Gibbs asked and after just a few seconds typing, my search hits honey pot.

"We have several."

I selected a couple of the pictures I've found and put it on the plasma, making Ziva and Tony cringe at them.

"These are just some examples of really bad degenerative diseases that could cause deformities as the Lindsay told us."

Gibbs approaches the plasma, studying the pictures carefully. "She said he had no nose like Val...Vol..."

"Voldemort." Laura added, "In the Harry Potter`s movies, the villain, named Voldemort, is brought back from the dead and receives new flesh over his decaying body, but the process is not really complete as there's some..." Laura flutters her hand over nose, twitching it prettily in a very attractive way, drawing my attention to the faint freckles which covered it, before glancing at the other agents who are looking at her in different ways.

Tony is grinning as he found another movie aficionado. Ziva is smirking and I'm just staring at her surprised at her knowledge of the children's movie.

"What? I like the books." She said, blushing deeply. Gibbs just rolls his eyes and turn to look again at the plasma and I still hear her muttering under her breath. "And the boy who plays Harry is hot."

"You think Daniel Radcliff is hot, uhm?" Tony insisted, making Laura blush even more.

"I dig the British accent, okay? Is that a crime?"

"No, I just would never have pegged you as a cradle robber."

"So we're looking for a killer who is a psychopath who looks like Voldemort." Gibbs tried to get our minds back on track.

'We could search a database of people of such disfiguration on DC hospitals and widen the search from there." Laura proposed.

Gibbs turned and looked at her as she exposed her theory, "Regardless of what we may think, this guy is local. He knew the places well where he made his kills, the movements of people, its blind spots, the CCTV cameras and where he should dump his bodies without being noticed. If he has such disability, we might find him as a patient in one of the hospitals in the metropolitan area."

"McGee."

"Doing a search in all specialists in face and mouth disfiguring diseases, Boss."

"You should also look for patients who are listed for at home care." Laura suggested, "Some of them are prescribed drugs to take home for self medication and you could cross reference with the anesthetic found in our victims.

"I'll do that." I went back to my search, while Gibbs kept giving orders.

"Ziva, go to the Georgetown Memorial and ask around. Take Laura." He throws the key to Ziva, who is just surprised at his choice of partner.

Tony looks at Gibbs questioningly, "Boss?"

"DiNozzo, you with me."

"Where to, Boss?"

"We're going to visit the Wicked Witch of the West."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Gibbs and DiNozzo were the first ones to come back several hours later, after visiting the girlfriend of the first victim, a personal trainer, and the second victim's wife. Both were distressed, but had very little to add to the investigation. Ziva and Laura arrived two hours later, a little bit after midnight, carrying two boxes filled to the brim with medical reports.

"What are those?"

"Copies of the database of patients with degenerative diseases only in Metro Area. Apparently Georgetown hospital is a center for treatment for mouth, ear, nose and throat cancers in the country so sixty percent of the cases nationwide are recorded in their files." Ziva muttered as she dropped her box on her desk and wiped the sweat off her face.

I looked at the pile of folders, "Didn't they have that in digital format?"

"They are still compiling the system, but they are short on staff to digitalize everything. So we have the hard copies." Laura said, dropping her own box on the floor and sitting tiredly on the chair by my side.

"Oh, joy."

Gibbs glanced at the clock and noticing the hour, said, "We're going to check those files tomorrow. Go home."

We froze staring at Gibbs, who was well known for putting us through all-nighters.

"Boss?" Tony ventured to ask, just to be shot down by Gibbs.

"We're starting tomorrow early, go home all of you."

Tony and Ziva smiled, rushing to their desks to pack their things. I've noticed how Laura's face closed down and she moved sluggishly to the corner where she had dropped her bag in the morning.

"Is something wrong?" No reason to be impolite to the young lady and she looked genuinely in distress.

"Ah... do you know if you guys have an ATM in the building? I need to get some money so I can get a taxi home. There's no subways or buses to my place after midnight."

"No need of it," Gibbs said, fixing the collar of his jacket and grabbing his gun and badge from the drawer. "McGee will take you home."

"I will?" Boss, you don't really want me to...

"Yes, you will. And you will pick her up tomorrow bright and early too."

Laura blushed at my scrutiny and obvious discomfort, "I don't want to be a burden, I can take a taxi home and..."

Gibbs went to her and towered over her, effectively shutting her up. She gulped as he stared down at her, silently daring her to contradict his orders.

"Okay." She muttered, accepting the order. Gibbs smirked and turned around, saying goodbye for us and rushing to the elevators, not waiting to see if we were following him or not.

Tony and Ziva grabbed their backpacks and rushed after Gibbs, unwilling to miss the elevator, leaving me and Laura alone in the bullpen in the indirect light at the dark hours of the night, hearing only the noise of Peter, the night cleaner, passing the vacuum over the carpet in the mezzanine.

I closed my coat and looked at her, seeing how uncomfortable she was for having to rely on me to go home tonight.

"So... where do you live?"


	10. What happens in a bridal chamber

**_Chapter 9: What happens in a bridal chamber_**

_The list of prospective brides was amazingly short. Those who knew about the temper of the beast had no wish to marry him, so the Lindorm ordered the king to search high and low for a willing wife for him, otherwise he would destroy the kingdom... and the king with his castle with it._

_A subterfuge was used then. The princess of a faraway kingdom was sent as a bride and she was kept in the dark about the appearance of the groom until the very last moment._

_In the bridal chambers, after the wedding ceremony, the Lindorm made his great appearance in all his fearsome and bestial glory. It happened as expected: the bride was terrified. The Lindorm, in a fit of anger, killed the bride and ate her._

NCIS NCIS NCIS

The drive to her home was silent as Laura kept her eyes firmly out the window observing the slumbering city streets we drove by to her place.

"Listen, why the pouting?"

"I'm not a baby that needs an escort home."

"It's Gibbs' orders."

"And you obey him like a good little agent." She said it with irony, turning to study me with those haunting green eyes of hers.

"Listen." I turned to her, glaring into her light green eyes. "I'm not happy that I have to be here, okay. Neither are you. So why don't you stay quiet until we arrive at your place and this torment is over for both of us."

"Fine."

"Fine."

The rest of the drive was made in silence, just with exasperated glances of my part sometimes thrown into her direction. For the most of the interim, she simply ignored me, preferring to look out of the window as we crossed the city until we reached her neighborhood.

I stopped the car in front of her building, turning off the car in a small alley that lead to a block of buildings very badly illuminated that chilled me a little as I imagined her walking down that path towards her door, seeing all kinds of dangers and monsters jumping out the shadows to attack her.

With her things in her hands, she muttered softly, "Thanks for the ride."

"You're welcome."

She hopped out, slamming the door after herself. It wasn't a nice neighborhood, with several closed shops in her block and some suspect folks standing on the corner of the next corner, who looked at her with a very unfriendly way.

I cursed softly and left the car, locking it after myself.

She stopped in the path to her building and glared at me.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm walking you to your door."

"You don't have to do that."

"But I want to."

"But…"

"Listen, can you please stop being difficult? I would love to be anywhere but here but I'm doing a favor to a colleague and I would feel very uncomfortable knowing that I haven't walked you to your door. So could we please?" I pointed to her door, noticing her astonished look.

"Why do you have to be so nice?

"Why do you have to be so difficult?" I answered back, towering over her and noticing, not for the first time, that her eyes were actually two colors, with a circle of brown around her pupils.

We both stared at each other for a long time, only our respiration could be heard on the street. Our staring contest was over only when a door was slammed shut a couple of blocks away, breaking the spell.

"Okay, lock your car, I'll prepare you some tea."

We entered the building and she guided me up to a small forth floor apartment, its green door peeling on the corners. She gave me a small shallow smile as she forced the door open, as the rust on the lock made it difficult to turn the key.

"Let me do it?" I offered, just to receive a glare from her.

"Just. A. Minute." The lock opened and we entered chez Laura.

I have to admit, it was completely different of what I had pictured for her place. I closed the door behind myself and looked down at her, as she tossed her badge and her gun in a small drawer right by the corridor that lead to what I could only imagine were the bathroom and bedroom. I slowly entered the small living room and once again felt like this place didn't match her at all.

"Cozy." I said.

She glared at me and rolled her eyes.

"Please." She went to the small counter that separated the kitchen from the living area. "Would you like a beer?"

"I'm driving."

"Non alcoholic." She grabbed two in the fridge, opened one and slid it on the counter, before opening the other for herself.

"Thanks." I sipped it and sighed as the cold liquid slowly made its way down. I looked at her and saw her studying me as carefully as I was studying her.

"Are you profiling me?"

"Why should I do it?"

"I don't know. Isn't it your thing?"

"I don't have to profile you to know how you think, McGee."

"Really?"

Okay, this girl pisses me off.

"So, please tell me, how do I think? What makes me tick? Because I'm dying of curiosity to know what an expert shrink like you was able to pick out of my brains."

"I'm not a shrink anymore."

"No, you are very rude and lonely person who just wishes that everyone else is as rude and lonely as you are."

"I'm just trying to protect myself."

"From what? From life?" I asked her, almost shouting. "Living in your little bubble, keeping people at bay won't help you live a happier life."

"I don't need to hear that." Laura put her beer down and walked around me, going to the small bookcase overflowing with books. Now that I could think about it, her house was devoid of any girly decorations that usually littered walls and surfaces whenever I visited a woman's place – either Ziva's, Abby's or even my sister's dorm. It was almost Spartan looking, with only some basic pieces of furniture and books. Books in every horizontal surfaces, littering shelves, cupboards and floor.

"And you think you are so smart and saint and you act as I'm the scum of humanity. Please what's so wrong in being nice to people?"

"Because people will hurt you!" She shouted, approaching me and staring up at my face.

We stared into each other eyes, and for once I could see all the hurt and pain she hid under her uncaring attitude.

"I... I just want you to protect yourself." She said in a quivering voice. Her eyes filled with tears as she whispered in a broken voice, begging me to understand her point of view. "They will use you and laugh at you when you are all alone and needing a hand. And none of the people who you helped and that you were nice to them in the past will be there by your side when you are down and in the mud. They will all leave you hanging. No one will come. Neither those you have trusted with your life."

"What the hell happened to you?" I whispered, seeing how she studied my face with wet tears rolling down her face.

"Just protect yourself. Trust no one but yourself."

She tried to take a step back, but my hand grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to stay right where she was.

Just one step from my arms.

"Ah... I..." I studied her green eyes and what I've saw in them, for once, wasn't the rude nail biting FBI agent which had been my bane during my day. My gaze flickered from her green eyes to her lips, just when she bit them lightly and wet with the tip of her tongue her lower lip.

Her breathing sped up slightly and when I looked up again, it wasn't mistrust that I saw in her eyes, but something else completely different that took my breath away.

"Tim..." She whispered, just a millisecond before I leaned and took her lips with mine, in a wet kiss that tasted non alcoholic beer which brought a fluttering to my chest and a shaking to my hands, in the very few seconds I moved my hands from her arm to her back, bringing her against my chest.


	11. Instinctive reactions

**_Chapter 10: Instinctive reactions_**

_Yep. He ate her._

_It's in moments like this that I totally understand his instinct to do it. I mean, you are there, in the bridal chamber with a screeching bride in front of you._

_There are few things a man will do to shut up a woman in that situation. You either kill her or kiss her._

_The Lindorm killed her and ate her. Well, I kissed and... oh... You don't have to know the rest. No kiddies allowed in this part of the story._

_The king wasn't happy with the terrible ending of the first royal wedding and he was very aggravated when his son demanded a search for a new bride._

_Unfortunately same fate awaited the second bride his father found for him, also a princess, who had the same equal terrible demise._

_After eating the first two, the Lindorm went again to his father, the king, and demanded a new bride. The king tried to explain that no other king would send a princess to him, as he had eaten the previous two thus inciting war._

_The beast demanded a bride... and the king, desperate, went in search of one between his own vassals. Until he finally found her._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

I opened my eyes to the singing of some insistent birds close to my head, which chirped happily as they greeted the first hours of the day. I looked up and saw that there was a small cage with two budgies by the window, the two birdies singing to each other as they danced around the cage, moving their wings and jumping from one place to the other.

I looked at the beautiful patchwork hanging as a decoration beside the window, noticing the skill of the artist in making a fascinating mix blue and greens. I was sure that I wasn't in my own bedroom and bed, assumption which became a certainty when I felt someone sigh against my naked chest. I looked down and found Laura's face glued to my chest, her deep sleep doing nothing to erase the dark circles around her beautiful green eyes, which were currently closed.

I studied her face more and noticed under the first light of the day that she had freckles all over her nose and cheeks, which she had carefully covered with make up the previous day.

And if my memory serves me well, she is all freckles. And I do mean everywhere.

She finally crunched her pretty freckled nose and blinked, her eyes slowly adjusting to the light entering our small nest.

Finally she opened her eyes and her gaze landed on my face, meeting my gaze for a while without showing any emotion in them.

"Hi."

I shouldn't have said anything, because that was enough to jumpstart her brain.

She finally registered who I was, where I was and what we had been doing for a good portion of the night and … well, there's no other definition for it: she freaked out.

"Oh... shi..." She jumped out of the bed, turning her back to me and stumbling out of my reach, grabbing a throw blanket from the floor where we had let it fall during our tryst last night and wrapped herself in it, visibly shaken by what happened.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh.. what's wrong? How stupid I am! Again and again I commit the same mistakes, stupid stupid stupid!" She wailed at herself, slapping herself on the forehead, angrily, before she ran to the bathroom, leaving me dumbfounded by her actions.

"Was it something I said?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

When she left the bathroom, she was already in her work clothes and pointed the bathroom to me so I could get ready to work. She kept her gaze firmly on the floor and stayed mute, showing clearly that there would be no love sighs or compliments for the night.

I cleaned myself the best I could and thought about my car, where I kept an extra set of clothes for emergencies just in case.

But I rarely used it for this kind of emergency.

I came out of the bathroom ready for work, eager to go to my car to get my fresh things and found her in the tiny kitchen, preparing us something to eat.

"Take some coffee and toast and we can go."

"I have to get my stuff out of the car, I have some fresh clothes in there."

"Go, I'll have the eggs done by the time you come back," she said without lifting her eyes from the fridge, digging for bacon and a piece of brie cheese.

I stared at her back and bit my lip, uncertain if I should or not... ohh man... "Listen, about last night..."

"It was a mistake, which won't be repeated." She said firmly and shut the fridge's door, grabbing some herbs and mixing with the egg in order to prepare an omelet.

"Ah. That's what you think. A mistake."

"Yes, so no reason to rush to your little friends and say what a great stud you are for balling the new agent."

I stared at her horrified, "I would never do that."

She started cutting onions, maybe to justify the tears that were filling her green eyes as she looked at me, anger simmering in her voice. "Of course not, because you are a gentleman." The way she said that word sounded more like an epithet than a compliment. "But unfortunately I've just proven to myself that I'm exactly what Thoreau kept telling me I was."

"And what did he tell you you were?" I had the impression that she was going to give me another reason to hate that man.

"He told me that with my looks I would never climb the ladder in the Bureau, the only way I would go up in the ranks would be on my back."

Yep, that's official, I hate the guts of that creep.

"That's not true. You're a great agent and-"

"Stop it, okay?" She begged me with tears in her beautiful eyes, looking finally at me with a sadness that cut my heart. "Stop being nice to me, okay. Just go get your things and get ready so we can leave and please, let's bury this in the deepest corner of our minds. Okay?"

I stared at her as she sniffed, went to a kitchen cloth and wiped her hands and poured the batter of the omelet in the frying pan, all the time doing her best to ignore my presence just a few feet away from herself.

"Just go, Tim. Please."

I hated myself, the world and that idiot who had carefully destroyed her self esteem to the point of making her raise such high walls around herself, went to the door and opened it, closing it lightly behind me instead of slamming it closed as I so wished to.


	12. Finding and losing

**_Chapter 11: Finding and losing_**

_One of the shepherds of the kingdom lived in the woods with his only daughter. The king, knowing that he had to sacrifice someone for the sake of his kingdom, demanded the young maiden to be delivered as a bride for the Lindorm._

_The father pleaded, begged and cried, terrified of the horrible fate his sole daughter would suffer. The girl, once informed of it, ran to the woods in despair to cry her lost future._

_After all, even poor shepherd's daughters dream of romance and storybook happy endings… and that didn't seem to be what was in stock for her._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

I came back with my things, changed into my clean clothes and was fed with a delicious breakfast, all that without getting a single word from Laura. There was an aura of sadness and misery around her that I couldn't shake and I also couldn't find a way to break the silence which hung heavily over us.

Finally we cleaned everything and got ready to leave, but Laura stopped me before opening the door and looked at me with those big green eyes of hers, silently begging me for understanding..

"Listen … I..."

"I've got it. It was mistake." I couldn't help the bitterness in my voice. I finally jump without checking the water level in a relationship and I hit my head in an unseen rock in what seemed deep waters. Just my luck.

"Yeah. Thanks." She muttered as she nervously played with her keys, "Ah... just … just don't tell anyone, please?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

There was a cold cloud over us when we walked into the bullpen and Laura went immediately to Ziva's desk, grabbing her share of files to study muttering a light hello to the agents already on their desks.

I sighed and saluted my colleagues and went back to my searches from the last night.

Last night. Before taking Laura home. Before kissing Laura... Before…

Ah crap.

"Gear up!" Gibbs said as soon as he stepped into the bullpen.

"Do we have another dead body?" Tony popped his head from behind his monitor, already getting his gear.

"Nope, the little girl called her parents telling them to pick her up. She's being taken to Bethesda to be checked out."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

We reached Bethesda and were immediately taken to the child's ward, where the relieved parents were hugging and kissing the young little girl sitting in a hospital gown in a bed, hugging a gray bunny toy desperately in her arms. She didn't seem to be harmed in any way, but we would still have to question her about her ordeal with our suspect.

After a few minutes with the doctor, Gibbs asked the parent's if we could interrogate the little girl about the place where she had been held and about the man who took her away. After a small talk, the parents agreed with the condition that we stop if she showed any kind of distress.

Gibbs gestured to Laura, indicating that she should take the lead. She was surprised for a second, before walking towards the little girl whose teary face was looking at Gibbs, me and Tony with distrust.

Laura sat down on the hospital bed and smiled at the little girl, making herself as nonthreatening as possible. Finally the little girl smiled a little and Laura started.

"You are a very brave girl, Jessica."

"No, I'm not. I was very afraid."

Laura gently played with the bunny ears, smiling lightly to the cute figure of the little girl with her best teddy bear friend in front of herself. I had the sudden insight that moment why Gibbs chose Laura to conduct the interview. She was very gentle and kind if she needed to be, her young face would naturally calm the little girl after being in the presence of what the other little girl had called a monster like Voldemort.

"Courage is not absence of fear. It's not letting yourself be paralyzed by fear. Calling your parents was very brave, in my opinion."

"You think?"

"I'm sure of it." Laura smiled, receiving a nod from Gibbs to continue. "But I have some questions for you, and I need you to be brave again, okay?"

"You are going to ask about the monster, aren't you?"

"Was he really a monster, Jessica?"

"He looked like one."

"Describe him for me."

Jessica rubbed her face on the bunny, looking at her parents for support. She glanced at Laura over the toy and said, "He didn't have a nose."

"Was it just missing or there was a hole in its place?"

Jessica frowned, trying to picture the man in her mind, "Ah... there was a hole... which spread to his cheekbones showing part of his teeth. And his eyes..." she shuddered and folded her legs, hugging it.

"You're doing very well," Laura said, noticing the little girl's distress. "You're very brave. You fought and escaped the monster."

"I didn't escape." The little girl was vehement in her denial of the statement.

"No?"

"He left me go. He drove me to the phone booth and told me to call my parents to pick me up."

Gibbs signaled to me so I immediately took my phone and requested the traffic cameras of the area she had been left.

"What else can you remember?" Gibbs asked from his position by the door. I received confirmation that Abby would have the videos for us as soon as we returned to the office and shut the phone, just to hear the little girl's description of our perp.

"His eyes were slipping out of their places, as if his eyelids were not able to hold them inside his skull and his smell was funny."

"What do you mean by that? How funny?" Laura asked, noticing Jessica's unfocused eyes as she tried to remember.

The girl sniffed a little, rubbing a hand over her eyes.

"He smelled like here."

"Like here? Like a hospital?" Gibbs asked, receiving a nod from the little girl.

"Yeah."

Gibbs gestured to the parents that we were done, and pointed to the door indicating that our interview was over, we were in our way out..

"Thanks Jessica," Laura said, turning to follow Gibbs out of the hospital room.


	13. Advice comes from unexpected sources

**_Chapter 12: Advice comes from unexpected sources_**

_Once in the woods, she cried and she cried about her lost future. She was found by the old hag, the same one who had consoled the queen._

_When questioned why she was crying, the maiden informed her what terrible plight she was about to suffer. The old hag, aware of the terrible curse over the Lindorm, gave her very specific instructions on what to do in the wedding night._

_If she followed it, she would have a life filled with happiness._

_If not... death waited her in the morning._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

We reviewed the traffic cameras as soon as we came back, and between Abby and me we were able to identify a dark blue Suburban with tinted windows which had travelled in the street where Jessica had been left, which matched the timetable we had for her release.

Ziva was the one to point out that the van had a disability stamp on the mirror, which would explain why our killer had arrived to the places where he killed unnoticed. There were disable parking spaces just across the street where the murders had happened.

We immediately started doing a search on possible cars with those characteristics, and what was our surprise when we found a matching Suburban listed in the name of girlfriend of the first victim. Gibbs immediately ordered us to bring her to interrogation and we put her into interrogation room number two, with orders to let her simmer for a while before he would get in to grill her.

Tony and I went to the observation room and saw the not so grieving woman puffing lightly for being forced to wait. She would glance uninterested to her carefully manicured fingers, before tapping them rhythmically on the table showing her impatience.

I was still angry about the events of the previous night, and I tried to stop thinking about what had gone wrong and how I could fix things with Laura. She's not a bad person, just someone who has been badly burnt before therefore she thinks that everyone is a creep like Thoreau. Ah crap, how I wish I could have five minutes alone with him, so I could teach him how to treat a lady like Laura.

Sweet Laura, who played with Jessica's bunny ears and who looked at me with those huge green eyes filled with tears and begged me not to reveal to anyone our little indiscretion. But it wasn't an indiscretion. At least it didn't feel like that to me.

Ah, man, why do I have to do that to myself?

I've suddenly became aware of Tony's gaze studying me, with a little grin on his lips, that sarcastic smile that shouted that he knew something that I wasn't aware yet..

"What?"

"Nothing." He turned again to the glass. "Just that you are attracted to her."

"Mrs. Trask? Come on?"

"Not Mrs. Man-eater over there," Tony pointed to Mrs. Trask who was looking uninterested to the mirror surface of the glass behind which we were observing her, "but Little Miss Sunshine, whose bright green eyes shine whenever you walk into a room, before going back to her folders whenever you look at her."

"What?"

"Are you going to deny it?"

"This is ridiculous!" I am not giving Tony ammunition to make my life hell.

Tony smirked as he watched Mrs. Trask. "I can see why. She is curvy. Long reddish brown hair with those mysterious green eyes."

"I'm not attracted to her."

"Her personality is a problem, but as long as you kept her quiet with your kisses..."

"Tony_, I'm. Not. Attracted. To. Her_. She's has a huge stick up her ass and the personality of a Schnauzer fighting for a bone ..." as I spoke, the door behind me opened and closed letting someone in. Tony turned to look at me and he immediately made a terrified face to me but I was incensed, bulldozing my way out. "And I would never, ever, even in a million years, have any kind of relationship with someone like her."

Tony cringed at that, making me frown. "What's wrong with you? Are you passing gas?"

Tony shook his head and looked over my shoulder, just when a soft alto voice spoke directly behind me.

"That's good to know because you're not my type anyway."

I gulped and closed my eyes, mortified, before slowly turning around to find accusing green eyes staring at me. For a moment I saw how deeply I had hurt her, before she gathered all her hurt and turned it into anger.

And all that anger was completely directed at me with good reason.


	14. Wedding blues

**_Chapter 13: Wedding blues_**

_The celebration of the nuptials wasn't a joyful affair, as everyone in the castle knew the terrible fate which awaited the young bride. She could feel the pitiful looks burning her back as she walked towards the church where she was going to be given as wife to the hideous beast._

_The party was short and finally it was announced that both should go their chamber to consummate their wedding._

_It was time for them to become husband and wife._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Gibbs entered the interrogation room in his usual manner - quiet, with a folder in his hands and enough ammunition to set ablaze the whole metro area. Tony entered too and went to the corner of the room, preferring to watch quietly and intervene only if necessary. I stayed in the observation room and was relieved when I saw Laura entering it too, but before I could open my mouth to apologize Ziva entered and went to my side, effectively ending any chance of a more personal conversation.

"Have they started yet?" Ziva asked, eagerly waiting for Gibbs to turn that woman into mince meat.

"No," I answered with a pout, looking at Laura's face but she refused to meet my gaze, preferring to stare at the interrogation room silently. Finally Gibbs started his questioning, effectively stopping any chance of conversation on our side of the mirror.

"Mrs. Joyce Trask, it seems that you weren't completely truthful in our first interview."

"What's the problem with you people?" She sighed and looked at him, aggravated, "I've told you again and again that I don't know who killed Gary. I was at the gym when he was killed."

"That's not what we're talking about."

Gibbs put a picture on the table, enhanced from the traffic surveillance camera which had filmed the Suburban of our suspect.

"This car was seen in the vicinity of one of the areas where the murders occurred and we also have an eyewitness that confirms that this car is the one being used by our murderer. And it's registered in your name."

"That's not my car."

"DMV says otherwise."

"It belongs to my husband."

"You said were divorced." Tony said from where he was standing, not letting go of the tiny bit of information.

Nancy sat back on the chair, smiling brightly to DiNozzo, showing him her delicately sculptured cheekbones and her collagen enhanced lips.

"Separated. The papers aren't finalized yet. But I've already got my part on the settlement and that awful car stayed with Norman."

"Where is your husband?"

"Why is this relevant to Gary's death?"

"Just answer the question."

"He is not around."

"That wasn't my question."

"But that's my only answer."

"Where is your husband?"

"Former husband."

"Whatever. Where is he?"

"You can't possibly think that Norman would have anything to do with it." Nancy snickered, looking at Gibbs as if he had lost his mind.

"I don't know. You tell us." Tony said, seeing how she simply dismissed their concern.

"Where is Norman, Joyce?" Gibbs insisted, showing his impatience in his tone of voice.

"I don't know where he is."

"You don't know where he is. Come on, how is that possible." Tony wasn't buying that so he approached the table and put a picture of Gary's dead body on the table, making Joyce cringe and look away. "Think again. Where is he?"

"I really don't know." She insisted, refusing to look at the dead body.

Tony shook his head, "Please, you really expect us to believe that."

"I'm telling the truth! The last time I saw him he was at Georgetown University Medical Hospital"

"Stop. Lying. To. Me." Gibbs muttered very slowly, his patience reaching its end.

"Norman is very sick. He couldn't have done any of it." She pointed disgusted at the pictures, showing her disgust to it in her face.

"How can you be so sure of that?" Tony asked, just to receive a glare from Joyce who looked at him aggravated.

"I'm sure he couldn't... He can't even leave the home alone. He wouldn't dare show his ugly face to anyone."

"Ugly face." Gibbs stood up, growling at that awfully superficial woman, whose actions led to the death of several people, her boyfriend included.

"He ... has ..." her carefully manicured hand fluttered over her own face, "He has cancer okay. It's awful. The last time I saw him the doctors were preparing him to make a biopsy of the horrible tumors growing on his face."

"The last time... when did you last see him?"

"A couple of months ago."

"Let me guess, right before he was submitted to major surgery. Let me guess again, when you served him the divorce papers, where was he? In the post-surgery room, waiting for anesthesia to pass, right?" Tony listed her sins, knowing that now they had the motive for what was going on.

"Hey, you have no idea what was living with that... that... abomination. I couldn't handle anymore." Joyce still tried to defend her point of view, but she only sounded hollow and empty, exactly like her surgery enhanced beauty.

"You've told him that? Does he know you see him as an abomination?"

Gibbs stood up, looking at her with disgust as she folded her arms and looked at him showing no remorse on her eyes.

"Of course you did. And that's why he is murdering people now."


	15. Alone at last

**_Chapter 14: Alone at last_**

With a clear identity of our killer, now we had the simply task of finding him. After all, where could a man with metastasized cancer in desperate need of medical attention hide?

Apparently, there were plentiful places. Joyce gave us a list of places Norman used to visit, so Gibbs divided the list between us and ordered us to go in pairs to our share. Of course, he paired me and Laura again, despite her attempts or mine of asking for a change of partners.

All Gibbs had to do was send me a glare and I immediately shut up, grabbed my coat and grabbed Laura's hand, dragging her behind myself towards the elevators.

We visited in sullen silence four places, sharing only the minimum words to ensure we were following the same lead. Finally we reached a small house he used to rent in Seat Pleasant, outside DC, finding a small alley which led to a dilapidated property that no one had visited for a long time.

Laura and I left the car and studied the layout of the place and for a moment I couldn't help thinking that this place was ideal for an ambush or for a monster to jump out of the shadows and attack us.

We entered the alley behind the house and found only what one could usually find in a suburban area: garbage cans, filth, bubble gum wrappers and there was even a black cat lazily sleeping on the steps of a fire escape stair hanging from the brick building to our left.

"Bearing in mind the demographics of this place," Laura commented, looking up to a dirty child's face peeking at her from an equally dirty window pane, "I would say that a man with a disfiguring disease would fit right in."

"Why do you think he started killing people?" I mused out loud and I was surprised when she answered amicably.

"They have something that was taken from him, a future, so he is retaliating with the only thing he still has."

"What would that be?"

"Anger. He's angry at the world, angry that his life - his future - was stolen from him, his wife has abandoned him for her gym and yoga instructor after throwing in his face what an abomination she thought he was. All that coupled with the uncertainty of the treatments results, the empty promises made by lying doctors and the debilitating results of chemo and we have a very angry man on our hands."

"But why kill people? Why can't he simply take his treatment and die with some dignity?"

Laura stopped and for some reason I had the impression I had touched a nerve somewhere.

She looked at me with anger and for once I had no idea why I had pissed her off again, "You need to have something to fight for in order to keep going. He has nothing. So he's striking out."

"You sound like you condone these actions."

She glared at me before kneeling to get a paper from the floor. "I don't condone his actions, but I understand his reasons."

"So just because someone is hurt they are excused to vent their anger as they wish, is that so?"

She looked exasperated at me, walking deeper down the alley and muttering over her shoulder, "I'm just saying that we won't ever really know what are the reasons people might do things. There are always good reasons for people's reactions, but sometimes they are not comfortable in sharing them."

I started following her while I turned her words in my head. Finally I stopped in the middle of the alley, staring at her back as my mind did a leap and I finally figured it out.

"That's it, isn't it?

She stopped and turned around, looking at me confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You have your reasons but you just don't want to share them with me, right?"

"Please, McGee. This is not the time or the place."

She dismissed me and started walking towards the exit of the alley, blowing me off again, but I wasn't about to let her do that again.

I grabbed her by her arm and brought her body close to me, ignoring her trying to twist out of my grasp.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Her efforts to get rid of my arms were feeble, so I simply waited until she looked up at me with angry green eyes.

"It wasn't a mistake." I muttered, immediately hearing her intake of breath as she froze and stared at me with a deer in the highlights expression.

Her gaze didn't waver as I kept saying what was in my heart, observing every single twitch and flicker of emotion on her face.

"I don't commit mistakes like that. I don't sleep around, much less loudly announce my conquests to others. I wasn't raised like that. And I would never ever treat you like a whore, because you're not one, despite of what that idiot Thoreau might have told you. You are an amazing agent, and I'm sure that given time you will figure it out on your own, without me or someone else having to point that out to you."

She simply stared at me as I slowly let go of her arms, breathing deeply as we took a step apart and gazed at each other for a long moment.

I don't know how long it lasted, but her silence stretched for too long, so I thought to myself, why not, and simply obeyed my instincts.

I took a step closer, noticing how her pupils flickered, the green almost disappearing with the brown, her freckles all over her nose which I remember kissing last night before trying to find the others which went down her neck. I took her chin and brought her face closer to mine, taking her lips gently with mine before the memory of last night took over and I was lost.

God, she tasted like cappuccino with a hint of caramel from the Starbucks we had after our third visit and... I can't believe that she tastes even better than yesterday.

I slowly let go of her lips, opening my eyes to find her glazed ones staring at me in shock. She was breathing heavily, slightly trembling in my arms.

My gaze was totally focused in her eyes so I didn't see her arm moving and the impact was phenomenal.

"Ouch!" I flinched back and touched my cheek, feeling it warm under my fingers where her small hand slapped me.

She looked at me horrified, almost unbelieving of what she had done. She was gasping as shock and fear mixed, her eyes showing her confusion about what had just transpired between us.

I clenched my teeth as fury boiled down my veins, making me angry at myself for being attracted to her, at her for not knowing if she hated me or if she liked me, at the situation which had forced us together imposing this impasse which seemed to be rubbing the nerves of us both raw.

I closed my eyes for a moment, seeking some deep source of self control but that was useless. Something snapped inside me and I was reminded of all those times that I was humiliated, cheated or deceived by someone who had pretended to like me, to be interested in me just to reveal herself as a mean spiteful woman... or a cold assassin.

I simply grabbed her by her shoulders and for once I felt like I was ready to shout at her, scream and vent all my fury at all those who had one day used me for their own goals - me, the probie and the geek, the useful innocent who would always be there eagerly barking at someone's feet just for some breadcrumbs of affection.

All those facts flashed before my eyes in seconds and I opened my mouth to scream at her and and I... I...

I kissed her.

Again.

I'm not talking about a simple peck of lips where our mouths barely touch each other, but the type of kiss poems are written of or receive standing ovation when they appear in some Hollywood movie.

Gosh man, what was I thinking?

I honestly don't know.

Maybe about how she tensed at first when I brought her flush against my chest, her arms fighting me as I squeezed her small body against mine. Finally her protests diminished and stopped, before she finally responded to my intrusion in her senses with the same voracity and hunger which I was demonstrating in my actions.

Or I was thinking about her low moan when my tongue invaded her mouth, asking for permission for a visit, how her nails dug on my back as we were together last night and how her hair felt like silk between my fingers as they ran between her reddish brown curls.

Or about how those same curls would look decorating my pillow.

I don't know how long we kissed because time and space seemed to contract, collapse and finally disappear as she surrendered to me, making my heart give a little jump inside my chest as I felt her trembling fingers scratching my neck and playing with my hair.

After a few minutes - days, months, years, who cares - I finally left her go, gulping before opening my eyes to find hers blinking owlishly at me. Finally she looked at me enchanted before her eyes were fixed on something behind me, her mouth opening to scream.

"Timothy!"

I felt only the sting on skin of my neck and then I saw no more.


	16. Last wishes

**_Chapter 15: Last wishes_**

_After the wedding, the young bride was taken to her chamber. The head servant asked if there was anything at all that your highness would need._

_A last meal, perhaps._

_The young bride's request was strange: a bucketful of lye water, a bucketful of sweet milk and an armful of switches._

_Why would a bride make such a strange request if she was about to die a horrible death?_

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

I groaned as I felt my whole body tingling as feeling came back with a vengeance. I opened my eyes and found Tony's face hovering over mine, holding my head gently in his hands as Ziva looked worriedly down at me.

I blinked repeatedly and could feel my ears ringing as Tony helped me sit down on the dirty floor of the alley.

"What happened?"

Tony and Ziva shared a worried look, before answering me, "You were drugged with the same anesthetic the other victims were doped with. We've found out that it's used for terminal cancer patients to minimize pain and dampen feeling during the last stages of metastasis."

"Oh God," I touched my abdomen, but found my clothes exactly as they were, my guts exactly where they should be.

Inside me.

"He didn't kill me." I said, surprised that somehow I had survived a meeting with our killer, despite the fact that I had been doped at that moment.

"No, he didn't." Tony bit his lip, looking at me worriedly.

"But why?"

Tony helped me stand up, supporting me with an arm around my shoulders as dizziness assaulted me and made the floor wiggle beneath me.

"He took someone else." Ziva said in a somber voice.

I opened my eyes and looked at her confused, before looking around and noticing someone missing.

"Where's Laura?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"911, what's your emergency?"

_"I'm just putting my jacket under his head, we don't want him hurt, do we?"_ a woman's voice was heard, but it came far away, as if the phone wasn't being held near her head.

Something growled in the background and the woman again spoke in a calm voice, as if trying to pacify a beast, _"You don't want to kill him, Norman. He's a Federal Agent. If you kill him, NCIS will hunt you with no mercy and you don't want that. You want to live."_

_"You don't know what I want."_

_"Ah, I do. I know you better than you know yourself."_

"Ma'am, can you hear me?" The operator insisted, just to hear the noise of some buttons being pressed. She could still hear what was happening, but it came muffled as if some cloth was over the speaker.

_"I can help you, Norman. I know what you want."_

_"What do you think I want?"_ The man's voice sounded again distorted as if he had a lisp or a very bad cough, rasping his throat.

_"I know you want to punish all those who mocked you and hurt you. Those who called you a monster, regardless of how deeply hearing that cut and hurt you. I know that you are afraid of dying alone. But most important of all, I know you want to live to finish what you've started. The ouroborus, right? No beginning and no end, always in movement, never done with your task."_

The man grunted in agreement.

_"Let me help you. We have to leave this place, the cops will be coming soon after him."_

_"I should kill him."_

_"NO!"_ That's the first time the woman showed fear, her voice trembling a little before she controlled herself again. _"You've done enough killing, Norman. Let me help you with the binding of your wounds. I'll help you out of here. Just leave him here, someone will find him soon."_

_"Why would you want to help me?"_

_"Because we're not that different, are we? We both are moved by the same thing."_

_"What would that be."_

_"Vengeance."_

The operator frowned as he heard the voices dim as the footsteps lead them away from the phone. He selected the audio of the recording he did and forwarded it to his supervisor, asking him to look up what the hell NCIS stands for.


	17. Alone with a psychopath

**_Chapter 16: Alone with a psychopath_**

_The maidens came to prepare her for her wedding night, but she sent them away. The servants left what she had requested in a corner of the room and she ran to her bridal chest, taking several nightshirts of it._

_She put one over the other, just as the old hag had instructed her._

_The number is uncertain. One of the tales mentions seven, other mentions ten._

_Let's stick to ten them._

_Anyway, back to the story... Where was I? The bride put all nightshirts one over the other and sat on the bed waiting for her groom._

_Finally he was there in all his bestial glory: the Lindorm King._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

The light did not dare enter that huge warehouse, which once upon a time had housed a family owned garage. The carcasses of the old cars which one day would have been carefully fixed, polished and primed for the streets now lay haphazardly over the floor supported by cement blocks, as skeletons of age old whales left to dry on the beach.

Laura knelt on the floor nervously trying to undo the handcuffs biting the skin of her wrists, but her efforts were in vain. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead in her palms, cursing her day and luck, for being so blind and stupid and eager to do the job.

She could only hope that the Emergency services had found McGee before some thief or looter, laying there on the dirty floor with only her thin jacket as a pillow and her cell phone carefully hidden between the folded cloth.

Calling 911 might have saved McGee's life but it also had sealed her fate.

A reckless decision which would probably cost her life by the end of the day.

Finally the door of the garage opened and a hunched man entered, keeping the lights off as darkness was his friend and helper. He started pouring his things over a table in the left corner, the metallic noise of knives making her gulp as she saw in her mind the bodies of the victims she had investigated.

"Thanks for saving me."

Her words made him stop and look over his shoulder, before his attention went back to the tools over his work desk.

"You're not disgusted by me."

"Why should I be?" Laura's tone was friendly, almost amicably.

He hid among the shadows of the garage, unwilling to get close to her. He turned around and went to the carcass of an old Pontiac, its rusted metal showing here and there what once had been a green varnish.

"I'm an abomination."

"No, you're not. You saved me from that very unpleasant man."

Norman took a piece of cloth and started cleaning his knives, his only good eye fixed on her sitting on the floor handcuffed to a pipe under the only light of that place.

"He... was touching you. Putting his paws all over you."

"Yes, he was. And I'm grateful you stopped him."

Norman stopped, snickering lightly at her words.

"You seemed to be enjoying his attention."

"I wasn't. I was so scared."

"You lie. You were kissing him!"

"He attacked me and he kissed me! What was I supposed to do?"

Finally Norman left the shadows and came to a ray of light coming from a upper floor window, which illuminated his disfigured face with tumors. The nose had been removed in the first surgery to control the cancer, but the evil disease had already spread to the tissue around it, making protuberances in strange colors grow in a disorganized way all over his face.

"You should have let me kill him."

"I couldn't. He was a Fed. If you had killed him, the Feds would be all after your blood, like crazy hounds scenting an easy prey."

"Why are you trying to protect me?"

"Because you need help, Norman. And I want to help you." Laura said as sincerely as possible, hoping to get through his thick skull and, in doing that, saving her own life.

"Nobody can help me."

"I know some good doctors who can take care of you. They will help with the medicines and they won't let anyone hurt you anymore, Norman."

"Nobody can help me."

"Only you can help yourself. Release me, I'll take you to my friends. They will treat you."

"I'm dying!" He turned and rushed to her side, hovering over her kneeling figure as he shouted again, "Can't you see I'm dying!"

Laura closed her eyes and hiccupped, breathing heavily trying to control her fear. Norman grabbed her chin and lifted her face, forcing her to get close to his deformity.

"Look. At. Me." He growled, squeezing his fingers and smiling when she whimpered in pain.

Laura slowly blinked and finally fixed her gaze on his face. She studied every protuberance and sore, before finally fixing her gaze in his eyes.

"Are you disgusted by me?"

"No. You are sick."

"SICK!" He screamed, letting go of her chin and running to his work table a few feet away, his hand flying to the hunting knife lying on the table, "I'll show you who is sick!"

"No, YOU NEED A DOCTOR!" She shouted, only to close her eyes when he grasped her hair and touched her neck with the knife.

"Esthesioneuroblastoma." She whispered as he pressed the knife against her vein which led blood from her heart to her brain.

The knife stopped.

She kept her eyes closed and rushed her explanation, while he breathed loudly against her ear, his fingers twisting her hair painfully pulling at her scalp.

"Esthesineuroblastoma is... ah... a rare form of cancer. Only 200 cases have been documented in the last twenty years and ...it occurs... in the nasal cavity and it grows and... results in deformities on the face due to the tumors."

The fingers released her hair just a little, so she dared open her eyes and look at the horrible face just a few inches from her face.

She studied the empty hole where the nose was supposed to be, the red itchy skin surrounding the eyes, which were bulging out in a grotesque sight. The gash in the face went low, leaving an open area where one could see the teeth beneath.

"Are you disgusted by me?"

"No. You need help. You need a doctor. Your condition will only get worst if not treated."

"Don't you know I've seen all doctors? They all told me that I'm going to die. One damn ugly bastard."

"Yet they can help alleviate the symptoms and pain..."

"Nobody can help me!" He leaned over her face, screaming and spitting. "NOBODY!"

"Why are you doing this, Norman?"

Norman let go of Laura's hair and walked away, his fingers squeezing the handle of the knife nervously as he shuddered with anger.

"That bitch. She couldn't stand looking at me. And she left me! She told me I'm an abomination!"

"And as she left you for her yoga instructor... so he deserved to die."

"Yes. All of them fit. Beautiful. Not aware of how lucky they were. They had no guts. I made them have no guts." Norman started laughing, remembering the murders he committed. "They deserved to die! All of them."

"You are not an abomination, Norman."

"Look. At. Me. Don't you see an abomination?"

"No. I see a man in dire need of medical help." Laura shook her head, wincing at the pain in her scalp where he had pulled her hair. "And she didn't love you. Norman. She never did."


	18. An unforgettable clash of wills

**_Chapter 17: An unforgettable clash of wills_**

_The snakelike dragon entered the chamber and contemplated the maiden his father had chosen for him. His sinuous body moved closer to the bride and his nostrils flickered as he felt the scent of her fear in the air._

_He glared at her and demanded in his most authoritarian voice, "Take off your nightshirt, wife!"_

_"Take off one of your skins, Lindorm."_

_The Lindorm frowned at such strange request. "None of the others have ever requested that."_

_"If you don't take your skin off, I won't take my nightshirt off"._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"She saved your life, you know?"

I touched my own neck, feeling the bump where the drug had been administered and looked at Ziva who was looking at me with concern as I was checked by the paramedics in the ambulance on the street just out of the alley me and Laura had been attacked.

"How do you know that?"

"Somehow she was able to call 911 and all the conversation was recorded by the operators. She put the phone under your head along with her jacket before she convinced him to spare your life and take her with him. They traced the call and forwarded the address to us."

"Oh, God."

"Get ready, Gibbs is coming." Ziva stood up straighter as both she and I watched Gibbs coming in large steps towards us, his face closed off meaning trouble for me.

"What the hell happened in here?"

"Boss..."

Ziva silently walked away, not willing to be caught in the crossfire. Of course he wouldn't give me the chance of explaining, so he plowed ahead instead with his usual grace.

"McGee, why can't I trust you with the single task of watching over a probie? What the hell happened here?"

_Mea culpa mea culpa mea culpa._

"I was... distracted."

Gibbs came closer, his hand opening and closing, giving me a hint that he was ohhh so eager to headslap me until my brain was rearranged inside my skull. He stood in front of me, his nose a few inches away from mine, his blue eyes piercing me demanding the truth of what happened.

"How distracted?"

I gulped and admitted it. _Mea culpa._

"I was breaking rule 12."

"What?" That brought a pause to Gibbs as well to Ziva and Tony, who were a few steps away but they were still in hearing distance. Ah, man, I've made the mess now I have to clean it.

I just hoped I still have the chance of fixing it with Laura, that she's still alive, that she's not reduced to a body on Ducky's autopsy table.

"I was... breaking rule twelve, Boss." I happened to glance to Gibbs' forehead and I noticed a vein pumping in there. I just hope he doesn't have a fit in front of me now. "I … I broke rule twelve. Last night. When I took her home." I paused and blushed as I remember the previous night. "Several times actually. And again here, when … Norman attacked us. He caught me distracted because of that. And I'll never forgive myself if something happens to her because... Boss, I really want to break rule number twelve again. And again. And again."

Gibbs stared into my eyes, his blue eyes waiting for the smallest flicker of doubt or weakness on my part, but I had made up my mind. I wasn't going to give up on this one.

Finally Gibbs turned his back to me, not allowing me access to his thoughts through his eyes anymore. He studied the alley for a moment while I just waited for him to make his mind either to rip me to shreds or serve me to the lions.

Neither would be a pleasant option.

"She's FBI." Finally he muttered.

"Yes, she is."

"She's a profiler too. A good one," he turned to me, "let's hope she can play him long enough so we can find her alive."

"Boss?"

Gibbs turned around and smirked at me, surprising me deeply, "I was betting that DiNozzo would hit on her first, but there's rule 51."

"Which is what? I've never heard of that one."

_"Sometimes you're wrong."_ With that he put a hand on my shoulder, and I'm sure he could clearly see the relief and astonishment on my face as he completed, "Let's go find your girl."


	19. Being reasonable or not?

**_Chapter 18: Being reasonable... or not?_**

_The request of the young Bride seemed reasonable to the Lindorm, so he acquiesced to her wishes. He writhed, groaned and moaned, until the outer layer of his skin slid of his body and fell to the ground. As he had fullfilled his part of the deal, she took her first nightshirt off._

_He repeated his demand just to receive the same answer from the young maiden._

_He might have been a monster... but he was still a guy. A male with red blood running in his veins eagerly waiting for his wedding night, right? And the girl wasn't denying him anything, she hadn't screeched when she saw him for the first time. All she wanted was him shedding his outer skin._

_So he obeyed her request, squeezing the next outer layer out just to see her take another of her nightshirts off._

_And slowly a pile of skins and nightshirts were made on the bedroom floor, one after the other._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Gibbs, me, Tony and Ziva were pouring our attention all over the map of the area where I was attacked, going over it trying to figure out where he could have taken her.

"Why are you so sure he's still around?"

"Because he was on foot when he attacked me. There was no noise of cars or any other type of transport before I collapsed and I had my back to a dead end alley. So he must be in walking distance. Laura said that he would fit right in with his disfigured face in this neighborhood, all we have to do is figure out where he would go."

"His car might be the key," Ziva said, checking the map upside down.

"Why?" Gibbs asked, interested in her insight.

"He has a big car with a disability permit. A car that size with that specific characteristics would be hard to hide in a small community like this."

"Unless he parked it somewhere out of view of the public," Tony had to contradict her, receiving a glare from Ziva.

I took my phone and called Abby, immediately wondering if Ziva's hunch was right.

"Abby's Labby! You're on air!"

"Abby, it's McGee."

"Timmy, are you okay, I was worried about you when they told me that you had been drugged and..."

"Abby, listen, I'm in a hurry here. I need you to find all the spots with disable parking in what..." I glanced at Gibbs, who showed me his open hands indicating the number five, "Five miles from where I was attacked. Focus on new parking permits, granted in the last year or two."

"Uhm... typing as we speak... oh... there are only two parking permits which were granted in the five miles radius of where you guys are. One for Mrs. Linda Black and the other for Mr. Ramonn Krats, in an old garage just five blocks from where you are."

"What's his address?"

She gave me the address and I checked the map to find it. "Let's go, it's him."

"How can you be so sure?" Tony asked but started grabbing his gear when he saw Gibbs and Ziva doing the same.

_"Ramonn Krats_ is an anagram for _Norman Trask_. It's him."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

We went to our cars and put our vests on as well as grabbed guns for the raid at the garage. We approached it with care, observing what was left of once had been a very prosperous neighborhood. The dilapidated building was a silent testimony of better days, and we could see the green Suburban parked in the disable spot in front of it.

We checked our radios and entered the lateral door, clearing the first room and advancing to the main hall.

"Move in position," Gibbs said into the radio. "Fire only on my signal."


	20. What hides deep beneath

**_Chapter 19: What hides deep beneath_**

_Each shedding of layers became more difficult than the last. Yet, the Lindorm continued, until he was just a bloodied formless mass on the floor after he had shed nine skins and his bride had taken off nine snow white nightshirts._

_Yet, there was still another nightshirt yet to be taken off._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"If she had really loved you... She wouldn't have left. Not when you needed her the most."

"What do you know about such kind of love? You are just trying to save yourself."

Laura rested her head on her cuffed hands, sighing loudly as she considered her past and her choices. "No, I'm not. I happen to know how it is when bad things happen and people leave you on your own."

Norman turned to her, deadly knife in his hand, studying her under the faint light coming from the upper window, "You're lying to me."

"I'm not. Please, please... listen to me." Laura closed her eyes and decided to take the chance, opening a door in her mind that she had locked a long time ago, thrown away the key and had refused to even mutter out loud for years. "My brother."

The hideous man stopped, the kitchen knife that he had used to gut three people right at her eye level, just a few feet away from her.

"I loved … my brother. He was... schizophrenic. He had always been. He was seven years older than me and despite his problems... I've loved him."

NCIS NCIS NCIS

We could heard the snippets of the conversation happening in the main hall, so we approached with caution not willing to put Laura in jeopardy. Gibbs motioned to Ziva to go around and look for another angle for a shot.

We took position on the exits of the room.

"Do you have a visual?" Gibbs whispered in his radio, not willing to be heard by the couple talking in the other room just beyond the door.

"Negative." Ziva said as she climbed to the second floor of the garage, towards the offices, eager to get a better view for her shot.

Gibbs took a chance and opened the door to the main hall and crawled throw the small opening, letting only a small ray of light escape the room. He took position at the back behind an old Ford, from where he could hear and see clearly both Laura and Norman.

Tony and I entered the room and hid behind another car to the left, taking quick glances of them talking just a few steps away from us.

NCIS NCIS NCIS

"My brother, he had... good and bad moments. More bad than good. My memories of him are marked by long absences... the times he had to be institutionalized because he was... aggressive towards my parents. But never to me. Never to me. I was his princess." Laura's voice took a dreamy quality, as she remembered a long gone past when her belief in a fairer world was still intact, "He would sing to me. He had a beautiful voice."

Laura sagged against the pipe she was handcuffed, crying quietly as she slowly narrated her past to the killer who she believed would end her life.

"He hated my parents." She sniffed and wiped her nose on her hand, ignoring the mess she made on her make up. "He hated that they sent him away from me. That they sent him to that awful place where he was kept as an animal."

Norman sighed, went to the work table after a chair and brought it closer to where Laura was cuffed. He sat down on it and started to play with the knife in his hands, staring at it with fascination as he questioned her further.

"What happened to him?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

My heart clenched as the veil from my eyes was finally lifted, the pieces of the puzzle finally fit and the whole picture made sense in bright Technicolor before my mind. I felt Tony's gaze on me and I blushed deeply as I was reminded of how I treated her, how hurtful I had been towards her and how she had reacted.

She was right, people always have reasons that justify their reactions towards things, but knowing their reasons might not be what we expected them to be.

It was no wonder that she was so skittish.


	21. Loving deeply even when it hurts

**_Chapter 20: Loving deeply even when it hurts_**

_As the young bride saw the Lindorm impotent and writhing in pain, finally reduced to a bloody pulp on the floor, she ran to the corner where the things she had requested were. She brought the switches, the lye and the milk closer to where he was. She dipped the switches in the lye water and started hitting the bloody mass that was the Lindorm, repeatedly, until there was no twig in the switches._

_Blood and bodily fluids flew everywhere, the beast screamed in rage but it was too weak and unable to fight back, having to endure the torture as the switches hit its brand new flesh which had never been touched by the air before._

_His real form had been hidden by several layers of snakelike skin, the pink baby flesh delicate and vulnerable for the hissing bite of switches._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"I was a good student so I was two years ahead, despite my adaptation problems at school and all. My parents insisted that I should go to the prom despite my assurances that I had no wish to mix with those arrogant creeps. My brother had been in a terrible mood but still they told me that they could handle him."

Laura chuckled lightly, her throat clenching as her past flashed before her eyes, making her dizzy with the memories which were resurfacing. "They thought they could handle him."

She cleaned her face on the sleeve of her blouse, looking at Norman with red blotched eyes and cheeks. "They were wrong."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NICS

"Ziva?" Gibbs whispered, hoping to hear good news from his agent.

After a few seconds, our radio cracked, "I have a visual."

"Wait for my signal."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"I went with a sweetheart of mine. I ended up... spending the night with him. I never came home that night."

Laura's face crunched as she remembered, so she lowered her head hiding her face, her voice coming out broken and cut here and there with heartfelt sobs, "Norman, my brother... he got mad. Really mad and he used a knife... a kitchen knife like that one in your hand... and he killed them. He killed them in their own beds. Mom at least tried to crawl away but..."

She couldn't continue, her shoulders shaking as her pain became unbearable as flashes of that horrifying day came to her. Laura was crying now, deep sobs coming out of her chest, as she remembered the terror of her younger days.

"I woke the next morning to the wailing of the sirens going down the road top speed. I ran back home just to find it a crime scene. My brother was being taken away by the county police in cuffs." She looked up at Norman and said, "As he walked by me... he told me that he had done that... for me."

"After that... I was a castaway in our town. I had to sell the house to pay the lawyers and I went to live with a distant aunt who despised who I was and what I represented. I was... evil for her. A bad seed that shouldn't ever been born. She had great pleasure in throwing at my face what a worthless piece of shit I was... every single day until I've saved enough money to apply for a community college as far as possible from that cursed place. And from her."

"My friends left me. My boyfriend - he was never my boyfriend, he just wanted my virginity - he left me too."

"Nobody stayed by my side. But despite what the lawyers advised me, I still visited him in jail ashe was - despite everything - my brother. My only family left. He still sang to me whenever he saw me."

Norman kept quiet, silently hearing her story without intervention.

"Three months after he was institutionalized he committed suicide."

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to stop the tears falling. She opened her eyes and looked at Norman, seeing him studying her quietly.

"But … I've never left him. I've _never_ left him. As she _shouldn't_ have left you."

Somehow he felt the conviction on her words, as he stared at her, his future victim, with pity.

"She should have stayed. Just as I stayed by my brother's side."


	22. Rescue

**_Chapter 21: Rescue_**

_After she had reduced him to a bloody pulp, with deep gashes torn through his fragile baby like skin, she carefully bathed his formless and bloody body in the sweet milk she had ordered brought to the room before wrapping him in the nine nightshirts she had taken off during their duel of minds._

_Exhausted of her terrible efforts, but happy that she had followed the instructions of the old hag without missing a bit, she fell asleep with the now clean body of the Lindorm in her arms._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Norman stood up and went to the work bench, resting his open hands over the polished wood where several knives he had used in his killing spree were carefully organized in order of size.

"Do you think there is any hope for a creature like me?"

"You're not a creature, Norman. You are a man. You are a man in dire need of help, you need medicines and doctors and nurses watching over you twenty four seven. We can arrange that."

"Could you love someone like me?"

"I don't think that I can."

He growled angrily so she was very fast to explain.

"Norman, listen to me. It's not you. It's never you. It's me. I'm broken, Norman. Something inside me... snapped a long time ago and I can't open up to someone like that anymore. Even if I wanted, I can't. Schizophrenia is a genetic disease and I carry the genes. I might still lose... lose my mind in a couple of years ahead. I can't subject someone to the same torment I went through with my brother. And love is not a switch that one clicks on and off. What I'm saying is... given time... someone could love you like that. The real you, not your appearance or what they think you should be."

Norman turned to her, mad at her dismissing him, "I don't have time! I'm dying!"

"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry, Norman."

"Why can't you love me too?"

"I'm sorry, I can't."

"Why?"

"Because..." Laura sagged against the cuffs, staring sadly at the floor as she admitted in a low voice, hard to hear from our hiding place, "I'm in love with someone else. But we're never meant to be."

Oops, that's new. I hunched forward eager to hear what she could possibly be talking about, and each word she said brought a chill to my heart as well as a deep conviction that I should make things right, because it was now or never.

"It's someone... I've met... during the course of our investigation of your crimes. Funny thing is... He _despises_ me. But then, I was a real bitch to him because I was terrified of... being vulnerable again. I had committed the mistake of sleeping with someone I've worked with before, an instructor at the Academy and... he bragged about it to everyone we knew later on. I was so humiliated and hurt that I've promised myself that I would never let anyone get close to me again. Ever. I hate being vulnerable and he represented everything I've ever wanted in a man and I hated him for rubbing in my face that someone like him could actually exist after the hell I had been through. I couldn't let him get close enough to hurt me. The doubt and uncertainty and everything that comes with it... it's madness, Norman."

Norman took two huge hunting knives from the table, turning to her with them in his hands.

"Then you are suffering just as I am."

Laura gulped, her gaze fixed on the knives pointed to the floor, their blades shining in the faint light of the garage.

"Living is pain, Norman. That's a rule of life. As long as you are alive, something will hurt. You can't escape from that."

Norman started walking towards where she was kneeling on the floor.

"Then I'll end your suffering."

Laura finally let the fear crawl in her voice, shaking as she stared at him terrified.

"Norman, please don't do this."

Norman was almost placid, certain that he was doing a good thing, "I'll stop your pain."

"Norman, please."

"_Norman_."

"**_Norman_**!"

NCIS NCIS NCIS

A shot rang in the garage, followed by three others which soon made us jump out of our hiding places and rush to where Laura and Norman had been. Gibbs had given the signal and Ziva took the shot, dropping him to the floor before we rained his body with our bullets just before he brought the knife down on Laura.

Laura's scream filled the room as we revealed ourselves, hitting my nerves as I immediately rushed to her side and found her twisting against the cuffs, staring at the dead man with horror and pain.

She was sobbing and crying, her whole body shaking in her terror, her eyes moving from Norman to her cuffed wrists as she tried in vain to free herself in order to get close to him.

"Take these off of me, take these off of me." She muttered between sobs, her eyes never wavering from the dead man.

"Relax, I've got you." I took the keys and worked fast on her cuffs and as soon as she was free. She tried to go to Norman, but I stopped her, grabbing her in my arms and feeling her shivering violently as the events of the last few hours took their toll. She finally relented and hugged me, hiding her face on the curve of my neck as she cried.

Gibbs went to check on Norman, finding a small gray eye blinking tiredly at him in the middle of horrifying tumors and a grotesque disfigured face. The malformed lips moved and Gibbs had difficulty to understand at first what he had said so he knelt by the man, after ensuring that both knives were away from his grasp.

Finally he figured out and nodded, "You're welcome."

Norman almost smiled at Gibbs and finally stopped breathing, dying in that cold floor thanks to bullets instead of the horrifying cancer which had stolen his future.

I still held Laura in my arms, feeling her shaking as she tried to articulate sentences, "He... he... was... going to..."

I looked up at Tony and Ziva who had approached us both to check on us and I lightly kissed her curls as I tightened my grip around her body, which was still trembling violently, "I know. I know." I said, one hand caressing her hair as she sobbed in my arms.

"I kept talking ... and talking and I was praying... that you would..."

"I know... you did good. You were buying time. We've heard everything." I've felt her tense up at my words and she immediately tried to get out of my arms, putting some distance between us but I squeezed her and just gave her enough space so I could look into her tear stained face.

"You've... heard ... _everything_?" She asked terrified, looking at me with those huge green eyes.

I studied her eyes, seeing her fear of rejection, the pain for being an outcast, the shame for her family's past and her absolute terror that one day she would be reduced to the same fate her brother had, being forever institutionalized due to a merciless disease which would render her a prisoner in her own mind.

"Yeah, we... I've heard everything."

One of my hands went to her cheek and as I looked into her eyes, I saw the layers of her protective walls slowly crumbling at my feet as she sobbed her terror in my arms.

"You weren't... su...su... supposed to ... hear that." She said between hiccups, her green eyes searching my face but finding only understanding.

She wiggled, trying to free herself but I wasn't about to let her go. Not after what I had heard and I finally could understand and I see her who she really was, without the masks and layers of her protective barriers she had carefully cultivated during the last god knows how many years.

"You're wrong. Maybe I was."


	23. The end where I begin

**_Chapter 22: The end where I begin._**

_In the morning after the nuptials, the maids silently entered the bridal chamber, expecting to find only the Lindorm lazily sleeping by the window surrounded by ripped clothing and body parts of the dead bride._

_However, they were greatly surprised to find that the bedroom indeed was a mess, but instead of finding a pile of human bones by the door they've found a pile of bloody dragon skins gathered in a corner of the room. There was blood drops and gore on the curtains and floor as far as the eye could see._

_Expecting the worse, they ran further into the room and found the Bride of the Lindorm King sleeping on the floor, her last white nightshirt still over her body, holding in her arms a handsome young man wrapped into nine nightshirts._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

She was standing wrapped in a blanket outside the garage, being checked by one of the paramedics as the local M.E. took the body away and the Metro C.S.I. went over the garage just to finish processing the crime scene.

I observed as she looked sadly at Norman's body being taken away, her compassion for the poor man evident in her gaze, despite the fact that he had brutally killed people in a horrible way, and he would have killed me or her if given a chance.

I felt someone's presence by my side but I still couldn't move my gaze away from her, aware that something was changing, something magnificent and at the same time terrifying, as the whole world axis shifted and a new order settled in my mind.

"Case is closed." Gibbs muttered by my side, his eyes also on the young woman as one of the paramedics cleaned a scratch on her neck where Norman had made a nick on the white freckled skin.

"Yes, it is."

"She's going back to the FBI."

"Yeah, I know."

"Unless..." Gibbs left the word hanging in the air, making me turn to stare at my Boss's face.

As always, his gaze gave me no hint of what was going behind those blue eyes, but there was a faint smile on his lips as he watched me carefully.

"Unless what?"

Blue eyes studied green, "What do you want, Tim?"

I opened my mouth to answer me, but he beat me to the punch, "Choose your next words very carefully, as they might be the mark of a beginning... or of an end."

I stared at him for a moment, incapable of giving him an answer at that moment. Finally I looked again at her and found her gaze on me, her eyes firmly watching me with fear and uncertainty. I merely felt my legs taking me towards her, my mind barely acknowledging that I left Gibbs alone behind me as I crossed the street to speak to her.

Her eyes were still filled with fear, but she refused to look away as I approached her and finally stood before her, feeling the wind against my skin and hair, my body feeling heavy as if I was standing at the edge of a ravine.

And I was eager to jump without any safety equipment.

"Hi. I think we should start again." I offered her my hand, as if to be shaken. "My name is Timothy McGee. No middle name. I'm a Federal Agent for NCIS and I'm also a computer expert. I'm a geek, I admit it. And a very nerdy type of guy. I don't go out much, I don't have a girlfriend and I …" She blinked at me so I of course lost my train of thought, "I … really would love to have one... girlfriend, I mean."

She looked at my hand for a moment before taking it into hers, her soft fingers squeezing mine reminding me of satin skin and loud moans and whispers, coupled with freckles. Freckles everywhere I had touched, "I'm... Laura Mackenzie, but my real name was Laura Tyler. I had to change names after my brother died. Ah... my... my brother had… schizophrenia and in one of his mania attacks he… murdered… both my mom and… my dad. I have been on my own since then and I don't have a boyfriend too … most probably because … I know I might still …"

"That's _not_ going to happen."

"But Timothy, I carry the genes, I …."

"That's _not_ going to happen. You won't develop schizophrenia. You won't." I refuse to let that happen. Nope, that's not going to happen. Not on my watch.

"There's a 40% chance that I ..."

"Your numbers are wrong. They're not that high and you're past the dangerous age when the symptoms usually appear. It's not going to happen to you."

She studied me with limpid green eyes and I was once again swept by the depth of the emotions swirling in them, fascinated at how she had carefully protected herself for so many years truly believing that her future had been doomed from the start, thanks to a curse imprinted in her very own DNA.

"It's not going to happen to you." I repeated, seeing her face crunch as fresh tears started rolling down her face, her gaze going to the floor as she hiccupped and I couldn't take it anymore, so I gently hugged her, ignoring her weak attempts to get away from my arms, "And even in the unlikely hypothesis it might happen, you wouldn't end up alone."

She looked up at me and I smiled lightly, raising a hand to dry her cheeks, "If you start having hallucinations, we'll simply play cards or have tea with your visions."

"Don't..." hiccup "joke" sob "with this." She moaned, her hands firmly holding my arm, not fighting my embrace anymore.

"I'm not joking and I wasn't lying before. It wasn't a mistake then. It's not a mistake now." She gave in and leaned her head against my chest, her body finally sagging against me as the burden of her secrets were finally removed, setting her free for the first time in years. I snaked a hand around her waist and brought her closer to my body, closing my eyes with the contact and imagining how weary and beaten down she must be feeling.

And despite it all, she had still negotiated with an assassin to spare my life and, given the chance, she might have been able to convince Norman to surrender himself.

She sighed deeply and I chanced to open my eyes and I found Tony and Ziva just a few steps away, smiling at us. Gibbs had his arms folded and he had a satisfied smirk on his face, as if he had been the one to see that one coming and he had been the one responsible for getting us together.

That's how the curse was lifted, the ending of a dark time and the beginning of a bright new day for all of us.

Ah... with Tony making obscene gestures at me, congratulating for getting the girl at the end and with Ziva hitting him with a headslap.

But that's just who we are and I wouldn't have them in any different way.


	24. Storybook ending?

**_Chapter 23: Storybook ending?_**

_With a screech, the maids ran out of the room eager to communicate to the King and Queen what had happened in the bridal chamber._

_The curse had been broken and the rightful heir of the throne finally could - in his human form - take his position as Prince and enjoy his beautiful bride with whom he promptly fell in love._

_But all that only happened because she was brave enough to dare him to shed his skins before her. And she beat the crap out of him too._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

I was looking nervously at my watch every five minutes, eager to be on my way. My nervousness was noticed by Tony and Ziva, who grinned and shook their heads, mercifully keeping quiet about my obvious agitation. Punctually at noon, I jumped from my seat and got my gun, badge and wallet from the drawer, before looking at Gibbs.

"Boss, I have to..."

"Go."

I smiled and left, just to stop when Gibbs said without lifting his eyes from his screen.

"Say hi to Laura for me."

I couldn't help the grin on my face and left in a hurry towards the parking lot, took the Porsche and sped down to the Hoover Building. Finding a parking space was difficult, but I did with some minutes to spare. After locking the car, I ran to the steps leading to the main entrance to the Hoover and checked my watch again.

On the exact strike of the clock, a small petite brunette came out of the building, her hands swinging beside her body. There was a skip to her step that wasn't there before, as if she was lighter. She froze when she saw me a few steps down. She hesitated before smiling a little, finally climbing down the steps towards me.

"Hi stranger."

"Hi." I saluted her, my hands still stuck on my jacket pockets trying to fight the desire of grabbing her right at lunch time in front of several coming and going agents. I studied her face but all I found was serenity in her eyes, none of the eager desperation I had commonly associated with the Laura I had first met.

"So?" I asked, curious about the results of the disciplinary meeting.

"I'm free now."

"They've fired you."

She nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on my face.

"No regrets?"

"Nope."

She smiled, showing her dimples to me, her tiny freckled nose crunching a little.

"Apparently, I have been offered a position in NCIS. A civilian position as resident psychiatrist. I've got a recommendation from the Director himself."

"Good. Really good." I rolled on the balls of my feet, unsure of what to do next. My stomach complained that it needed to be fed, so..."Wanna have lunch?"

"I could eat something."

I threw my arm lazily over her shoulder and we slowly started walking towards the deli shops down the street.

"Timothy."

"Yeah."

"I'm civilian now."

"I know."

She stopped and looked up at my face and for the first time since I had met her, I could see a quiet contentment in her eyes.

"Now I can do this." She lifted one arm and slid it up my neck, bringing my head down so she could capture my lips in a sweet kiss. When we separated, I just smiled softly at her, squeezed her waist gently and urged her to continue walking, crossing the street towards the restaurant.


	25. Ever Ever After

**_Chapter 24: Ever Ever After_**

_There are different endings for the legend of the Lindorm King. After the (second) joyful wedding ceremony, the now King Lindorm and his peasant Queen loved each other greatly and the Queen soon conceived._

_Of course there were more trials, betrayals and tears in their future path. In one version the evil stepmother of the young queen became jealous of her happiness and writes a fake letter, in name of the young Queen, telling the young King, who was away in a battle which lasted a long time, that the Queen had born him two whelps._

_In another, the same treachery is committed by one of the trusted knights of the king, the Red Knight, who intercepts the correspondence between the King and Queen while the King was away in battle and, thanks to a series of misunderstandings, it leads to the Queen's banishment along with the two kids._

_But the brokenhearted King Lindorm, once the treachery was discovered, orders the children brought back to their home and departs on a quest to find his beloved._

_After a long journey he finds her and, after some convincing on his part, he brings her home._

_And they lived happily ever after._

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

"That's a great story, dad, but you still haven't answered my question." I lifted my eyes from the papers on my desk and looked at the handsome teenager in front of me, his coltish arms and legs in jeans and t-shirt not really hiding the promise of new growth spurts in a nearby future.

"What was really the question, son?"

"Will you let me borrow the car or not to go to the prom?" My son looked at me eagerly waiting for my answer, his bright green eyes surrounded with brown a silent testimony of his mother's beauty.

"I'll let you have the car." He grinned at me but I wasn't finished yet, "with one condition." I stood up and went to his side, smiling as I found him staring into my eyes at the same level as he had inherited my height. Though I'm glad he inherited his mother's eyes and freckles. "Whoever is the girl you take to the prom, you will treat her with the utmost respect."

"Come on, Dad!"

"I'm serious here, son. You will _not_ use my car to take liberties with some girl because sometimes what happens in one single night might haunt you for the rest of your days. I'll not abide to that. Neither will your mother. So, either you take it or leave it."

He bit his lip, unsure if he would be willing to take the deal or not. If he did, he might have to obey his father, if he did not, he would have to borrow a car or - even worse - rent one. Not good with his meager salary hardly earned in odd jobs here and there.

Finally he relented silently nodding to me. I smirked and put my hand on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly until he looked up at me and smiled.

"It's worth the wait, son."

"But how will I know if... ahh..."

"If she's the right one for you?"

"Yeah..." My son blushed deeply, his pale skin becoming bright red and making his freckles even more visible on his face.

I sighed loudly and looked out of the window of my study, seeing my gorgeous wife playing with my youngest daughter, laughing at our dog's antics in the garden. I smiled and looked down at my boy, knowing exactly the answer I had to give.

"Look for the girl you still want to kiss even after she has slapped you."

- THE END -

================= MISSING SCENE================

"Ziva, take this."

"What is this, Gibbs?"

"It's the name of an instructor at the FBI Academy."

"Uhm?"

Glare...

Evil grin...

"Ah... any specific orders or requests?"

"Not really._ Just make him suffer."_

"As you wish, Gibbs."

==============END OF THE MISSING SCENE =============

* * *

><p>AN: Thanks for all the great reviewers and the people who read this lovely fairytale.

I hope you have enjoyed the great tale of love and heartache of our darlings. This story was very difficult to write, as I've started its drafts in one of the worst days of my life and I kept trying to figure out how to fix things and finish the story.

I was able to finish the story, but I have to accept that I'll never be able to fix things. But as Laura, I won't jump out of the ship. Let's just see how it ends...

On a happier note, thanks for my lovelies:

Danielle - ohhh thanks *hugs hugs*

Watchdog - Everybody has emotional luggage. Some more than others. Some break under its heavy weight. Others learn how to face it and become stronger despite of it. I'm right now studying to be able to identify this on people, so that aspect might reflect in my stories. And I'll keep you posted on the Novel project and I'll send you a signed copy when it comes out. I hope you like WWII spy novels... kkkk

Cheether, alix, Jake Crepeau, lsmcfan - Thanks for the compliments!

Dr. Pyro - Sweetheart, take your time. As Tim said in the story, love is something powerful but its not only an emotion but a _decision_ to stay together. It takes two to make it work. Don't rush, your time will come.

THANKS!

Writerkos


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